HAMPSTEAD  ETHICAL  INSTITUTE. 

THE  CONSERVATOIRE,  SWISS  COTTAGE. 

TUESDAY.  APRIL  10th,  1906.  at  8.30  P.m. 


Illustrated  Lecture 

HAWAII: 

I he  Paradise  of  the  Pacific. 

Its  People  and  Customs,  Past  and  Present. 


McCANTS  STEWART 

(B.A.,  LL.B.J, 


Seats:  Numbered  and  Reserved.  2 6;  Reserved.  1 /- ; 
can  be  obtained  from  tbe  Conservatoire ; Rogers  & Son. 
249  Finchley  Road  ; and  Miss  Gowa.  22  Greencroft  Gardens. 


HAWAII : 

The  Paradise  of  the  Pacific. 

Its  People  and  Customs, 

Past  and  Present. 


ILLUSTRATED  with  many  fine  slides 


THE  lecturer  will  speak  about  one  of  the  most  interesting 
spots  in  the  world.  A land  of  perpetual  sunshine,  of 
rainbows  and  flowers,  it  is  forever  linked  with  the 
English  speaking  world,  because,  chiefly  among  other  things, 
the  novelist  Stevenson  made  it  his  last  home,  and  in  his  last 
days  was  soothed  by  its  gentle  breezes,  invigorated  by  its 
soft  sunshine,  cheered  by  its  childlike,  hospitable  people, 
and  enchanted  by  its  beauty  of  sky  and  mountain,  of  sea 
and  land.  ' 

The  lecturer  will  deal  with  the  native  people,  their 
customs,  diversions,  and  general  life.  He  will  present  views 
showing  some  of  the  people,  their  grass  huts,  their  food  and 
the  method  of  cultivating  it,  and  preparing  it  for  the  table. 
He  will  describe  some  of  the  beauties  of  the  Islands,  such  as 
royal  palms,  cocoanut  groves,  lily  ponds,  night-blooming 
cereus,  llowering  trees,  etc.  ; and  he  will  show  some  of  the 
wonders  of  the  country,  such  as  the  great  active  volcano 
with  lava  formations  and  lava  flows,  not  seen  elsewhere  in 
the  world,  and  a native  walking  on  red-hot  stones,  lie  will 
tell  of  the  fiist  king,  and  the  last  king  and  queen,  their 
palace  and  mausoleum  ; and  he  will  give  a glimpse  of  the 
changes  which  have  been  made  by  the  white  man’s  civiliza- 
tion, showing  churches,  school,  college,  electric  street  cars, 
etc.  In  fact,  the  lecture  deals  throughout  with  the  people 
and  their  country,  past  and  present,  and  is  not  in  any  way 
connected  with  mission  work. 

There  will  be  nearly  ninety  views,  showing  old  Hawaii, 
and  the  modern  changes. 


McCANTS  STEWART 

(B.A.,  LL.B.). 


MR.  STEWART  is  a barrister  of  high  standing  at  the 
Hawaiian  Bar.  From  the  time  of  the  annexation 
of  the  Hawaiian  Islands  by  the  United  States  in 
1898,  lie  took  a leading  part  in  organizing  corporations,  and 
in  corporate  litigation.  He  was  appointed  by  legislative 
authority  one  of  five  commissioners  to  draw  a Local  Govern- 
ment Act,  and  he  and  another  commissioner  drew  such 
Act,  which  was  passed  by  the  Hawaiian  Legislature  in  1905, 
and  the  public  affairs  of  the  Islands  are  now  administered 
thereunder.  Rev.  W.  M.  Kincaid,  D.D.,  the  leading  pastor 
oi  Hawaii,  says:  “ It  is  to  his  earnest  efforts  that  we  owe 
the  institution  of  County  Government  in  the  Islands  more 
than  to  the  efforts  of  any  other  one  man.  Indeed,  the  Act 
recently  passed  by  the  Hawaiian  Legislature  is  a monument 
to  his  patriotism  and  public  spirit.” 

Mr.  Stewart  has  been  throughout  his  professional  career 
active  as  a public  speaker  and  lecturer.  He  possesses  an 
unusually  large  vocabulary,  and  is  an  eloquent,  humorous, 
and  effective  speaker.  He  has  travelled  extensively  in  the 
United  States  and  Europe. 


LIBERIA 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC. 


BEING 

SOME  IMPRESSIONS  OF  THE  CLIMATE, 
RESOURCES,  AND  PEOPLE, 

/ 

RESULTING  FROM 

PERSONAL  OBSERVATIONS  AND  EXPERIENCES 


IN  WEST  AFRICA. 


By  T.  McCANTS  STEWART, 


Former  Professor  of  Mathematics  in  the  South  Carolina  State  Agricultural  College  ; 
Late  General  Agent  for  Industrial  Edtication  in  Liberia. 


WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION 

By  DR.  G.  W.  SAMSON, 

Former  President  of  Columbian  University , Washington , D.  C. 


NEW  YORK: 

EDWARD  O.  JENKINS’  SONS, 

20  NORTH  WILLIAM  STREET. 

1886. 


COPYRIGHT,  1885,  BY 

T.  McCANTS  STEWART. 


EDWARD  O.  JENKINS’  SONS, 

Printers  and  Stereotypers, 
20  North  William  Street. 


THIS  VOLUME  IS  RESPECTFULLY  DEDICATED 

BY  THE  AUTHOR 
TO 

HENRY  M.  SCHIEFFELIN, 

Former  Consul-General  0/  Liberia  for  the  United  States  of  America, 
WHOSE 

INCREASING  INTEREST  IN  THE  GROWTH  AND  PERPETUITY  OF  THE 
AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC;  WHOSE  UNSELFISH  SERVICES 
AND  WISE  COUNSELS  FREELY  GIVEN  THE  GOVERNMENT 
AND  THE  PEOPLE;  AND  WHOSE  LARGE  AND 
GENEROUS  DONATIONS  TO  PUBLIC  AND 
PRIVATE  LIBERIAN  ENTERPRISES, 


PLACE  HIM  FIRST  AMONG  THE  AMERICAN  FRIENDS  OF  THAT  RE- 
PUBLIC, EVEN  AS  HE  STANDS  FOREMOST  IN  SCHIEFFELIN VILLE 
IN  THE  REPUBLIC  OF  LIBERIA. 


\ 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  Belgian  king,  who  has  enlisted  the  great  States  of 
Europe  to  follow  his  “New  Star  in  the  East  ” on  the  Congo, 
found  his  parallel  to  guide  him  in  Berkeley’s  “Star  of  Em- 
pire”; which  arose  two  and  a half  centuries  ago  on  the 
American  shores.  In  the  history  of  Liberia  the  parallel 
holds  good.  The  men  who  colonized  the  new  settlements, 
now  constituting  the  United  States  of  America,  were 
mostly  the  descendants  of  slaves  under  successive  Ro- 
man, Saxon,  Danish,  and  Norman  lords.  They  learned 
self-government  as  colonists  only  after  five  generations  of 
protectorate  under  the  mother  country.  Their  early  set- 
tlements on  the  coast  and  along  river-bottoms  proved  un- 
healthful, sterile,  and  inhospitable.  Jamestown  was  soon 
deserted  ; Chester  and  Plymouth  were  left  to  decay;  com- 
merce often  was  hampered;  and  public  debt  seemed  irre- 
trievable. Youth  were  sent  to  the  mother  country  to  be 
educated;  and  churches  sought  both  ministers  and  their 
support  from  the  mother  country. 

Liberia  was  settled  only  two  generations  ago  by  slaves 
just  freed,  without  property  or  education.  In  one  genera- 
tion they  were  nominally  independent ; having  their  own 
Executive,  Judiciary,  and  Legislature.  No  nation  behind, 
fully  in  sympathy,  fostered  them  in  their  need  ; the  U.  S. 
Government  only  making  their  territory  an  asylum  for  re- 
captured slaves;  and  not  even  granting  their  special  needs, 
exploration  and  opening  up  inland  resources,  mail  com- 
munication with  their  kindred  at  home,  a gun-boat  to  pro- 
tect their  commerce  ; all  which  “ neglect  ” another  Burke 
in  the  U.  S.  Congress  is  needed  faithfully  to  portray.  If 
Millsburg  is  deserted,  and  Monrovia  decaying  ; if  no  sani- 
tary safeguards  are  inaugurated,  no  harbor  opened,  and  no 
wharf  erected;  if  roads  are  not  opened,  and  mineral  resources 
are  not  developed  ; if  territory  purchased  by  the  U.  S. 


6 


INTRODUCTION. 


Government  is  seized  by  European  Powers,  and  Liberian 
commerce  is  monopolized  ; if  interior  settlements  are  not 
therefore  made  possible  ; if  education  is  struggling  both 
against  ignorance  and  imperfect  guardianship — not  only 
the  Americo  - African,  but  the  Anglo-American — yes,  all 
Europe  is  asking  : “ Who  for  this  is  responsible?  the  colo- 
nists ? or  the  nation  whose  lands  have  been  tilled,  whose  cot- 
ton has  been  raised,  whose  mills  erected,  whose  marts  have 
been  made  busy,  and  whose  treasury  has  been  supplied 
from  their  half-requited  labor?” 

Another  generation  of  Americo  - Africans  has  arisen; 
whose  claim  to  be  true  Americans  outranks  in  length  of 
time  any  other  nationalities  except  the  primitive  English 
and  Dutch  settlers.  In  twenty  years  they  have  witnessed 
an  advance  in  culture  unparalleled  in  the  annals  of  nations- 
and  races.  They  see  the  “ New  Star  in  the  East  ” rising. 
They  wish  to  know  the  practical  facts  as  to  its  history  and 
promise  ; for  it  is  their  “ fatherland.”  If  never  to  enlist  in 
its  redemption,  it  is  as  dear  to  them  as  is  their  own  to 
Anglo-Saxon  or  German-Americans.  Just  now,  too,  the 
world’s  eye  is  turned  to  that  land,  the  early  seat  of  an  ad- 
vanced civilization  ; and  they  who  hail  it  as  the  home  of 
ancestry,  wish  to  be  assured  as  to  its  hope  for  the  future. 

He  who  reads  thoughtfully,  impartially,  the  pages  that 
follow,  will  find  just  what  practical  Americans  of  all  pre- 
dilections need  and  desire  to  know. 

What  is  vital  in  the  work  now  offered  the  public,  is  its 
call  to  Christian  thought.  Burke,  in  1790,  foretold  that  the 
French  Republic  would  fail  from  lack  of  Christian  rever- 
ence ; Senator  Sumner  recalled  this  forcibly  to  Jules  Favre 
in  1872  ; and  if  Liberia  is  saved  from  disaster,  it  will  only 
be  by  having  public  men  like  those  who,  in  many  a time  of 
peril,  have  saved  the  American  Republic. 

G.  W.  Samson. 

121  W.  125TH  St.,  New  York  City. 


PREFACE. 


This  book  is  an  honest  endeavor  to  do  some  good.  In 
it  nothing  is  set  down  in  malice  ; and  yet  its  truths  may 
be  offensive  to  some.  In  writing  it,  however,  I have  never 
at  any  time  paused  for  a moment  to  consider  whether  or 
not  I shall  please  or  displease  anybody.  My  aim  has 
been  simply  to  set  forth  plainly  and  truthfully  the  situa- 
tion as  I found  it  in  Liberia,  so  as  to  give  information 
which  may  be  of  interest,  and  possibly  of  use,  to  others. 

Many  will  criticise  my  work.  Some  will  say  I have 
minimized  the  difficulties  attending  life  in  West  Africa, 
and  exaggerated  the  resources  of  the  country.  Others 
will  urge  that  I have  been  too  much  of  an  apologist ; that 
I have  not  told  the  whole  truth.  There  may  be  some 
force  in  this  latter  criticism. 

True,  I have  not  mentioned  the  dishonesty  and  incom- 
petency of  political  officials.  I have  not  told  the  story  of 
a swindling  loan  contracted  in  England  fifteen  years  ago, 
when  the  English  money-sharks  and  dishonest  Liberians 
preyed  upon  the  Republic  like  vultures,  stealing  almost 
seventy-five  cents  out  of  every  dollar  borrowed.  I have 
not  recorded  the  fact  that  this  swindle,  which  is  not  yet 
settled,  may  cause  the  British  Government  to  assume  a 
Protectorate  over  Liberia,  as  it  has  lately  done  over  Egypt. 

I confess  that  I have  left  much  unsaid  from  the  necessary 
limits  of  a work  of  this  kind.  But,  although  much  has 
been  omitted,  I have  said  enough  to  awaken  thought  and 
inquiry  which  may  lead  to  practical  results. 

If  this  should  prove  true,  I shall  take  it  to  be  an  answer 
in  part  to  the  prayer  I offered,  when  I stood  for  the  first 
time  in  Palm  Grove  Cemetery,  in  Monrovia,  at  the  grave 
of  the  illustrious  Henry  Highland  Garnet,  whose  body 
lies  near  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  which  he  so 
heroically  crossed,  in  his  old  age,  with  a Message  of  sym- 
pathy and  cheer  to  the  struggling  Liberian  Republic. 

The  Author. 


8i  Adelphi  St.,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 


CONTENTS 


Chapter 


tt 


I.  — The  African  Continent,  ...  9 

II.  — The  Search  for  African  Territory,  . 13 

III.  — The  Struggle  to  Establish  the  Col- 

ony,   19 

IV. — Climate— The  Rainy  Season,  . . 22 

V. — Climate— The  Dry  Season,  ...  26 

VI. — Climate— The  Causes  of  Unhealthi- 
ness,   30 

VII. — Climate— Malaria  Dethroned,  . . 35 

VIII. — Climate — African  Fever,  ...  40 

IX. — Resources — Natural  and  Cultivated 

Products— A Growing  Commerce,  . 45 

X. — People— The  Natives — Their  Customs 

and  Manners, 54 

XI.  — People — The  Kroo  and  the  Vey  Tribes,  65 

XII.  — People — The  Americo-Africans,  . . 70 

XIII — People— Relation  of  Liberians  and 

Natives, 77 

XIV. — People — General  Condition  and  Pros- 

pects,   83 

XV.  — Mission  and  Educational  Work  Need- 

ed  92 

XVI. — American  Interest  in  the  African 

Republic 100 


CHAPTER  I. 


THE  AFRICAN  CONTINENT. 


THE  name  “ Dark  Continent  ” has  lost  its  significance. 

Africa  now  stands  in  the  eye-flash  of  Deity  and  be- 
fore the  gaze  of  the  civilized  world.  Exploration  and  com- 
merce have  opened  the  mouth  of  the  Sphinx,  and  there  is 
no  longer  deep-veiled  mystery  enshrouding  the  land  of 
“ Ethiopia’s  blameless  race.”  Mungo  Park,  Livingstone, 
and  Stanley  have  penetrated  its  swamps  and  its  forests, 
traversed  its  lakes  and  its  rivers,  and  have  told  us  what 
they  revealed  unto  them. 

Even  the  name  of  this  great  continent  has  been  a sub- 
ject of  much  discussion.  It  is  believed  that  it  is  derived 
from  the  Latin  word  Aprica  (sunny),  or  the  Greek  word 
Aphrikt  (without  cold). 

Africa  lies  between  the  latitudes  of  38°  N.  and  350  S. 
More  of  its  surface  is  within  the  tropics  than  that  of  any 
other  of  the  continents.  It  is  larger  than  Europe  or  Aus- 
tralia. In  its  physical  conformation  it  may  be  compared 
to  an  upturned  plate  or  saucer.  It  slopes  at  the  coast  and 
rises  toward  the  interior.  On  entering  the  continent,  the 
explorer  must  cut  his  way  through  swamps  of  mangrove- 
trees  in  order  to  reach  the  table-lands,  the  hills,  the  moun- 
tains, the  plain. 

We  have  learned  more  within  the  last  eighty-five  years 
of  the  geography  of  Africa  than  people  knew  in  the  pre- 
1*  (9) 


10 


LIBERIA. 


ceding  eighteen  centuries.  Strictly  speaking,  Mungo  Park 
is  the  father  of  African  exploration.  True,  the  enterpris- 
ing Phoenicians  sent  out  colonies  to  the  “ Dark  Continent,” 
and  the  warlike  Greeks  made  conquests  there.  The  Ro- 
man standards  were  also  unfurled  on  African  soil ; but  so 
far  as  we  know  these  nations  confined  their  operations  to 
the  coasts  of  the  Red  Sea,  the  Mediterranean,  and  Egypt. 
They  did  not  penetrate  the  interior.  The  Carthaginians 
claim  to  have  sent  their  merchants  into  the  Niger  valley, 
but  there  is  no  evidence  to  support  this  boast.  It  was 
reserved  for  the  nineteenth  century  civilization  to  open 
Africa  to  the  gaze  of  the  world. 

In  1788,  “ The  African  Association  ” was  formed  in  Eng- 
land, for  the  purpose  of  exploring  “ Inner  Africa.”  They 
sent  out  Mungo  Park,  whose  great  career  as  an  explorer 
inspired  Barth,  Overweg,  Livingstone,  Stanley,  and  De 
Brazza,  and  led  them  to  achieve  a work  for  Africa  for 
which  humanity  will  ever  be  grateful,  and  upon  which 
God  will  forever  pour  out  His  heavenly  benedictions. 

I can  not  in  a paragraph,  or  even  a page,  follow  the  his- 
tory of  African  exploration,  or  describe  the  physical  fea- 
tures and  peculiarities  of  this  interesting  country.  The 
reader  will  find  agreeable  and  profitable  work  in  studying, 
in  the  latest  geographies,  the  coast  lines,  the  rivers,  the 
lakes,  the  snow-clad  mountains,  the  deserts,  and  the 
swamps  of  Africa.  Such  a study  will  not  fail  to  produce 
surprise,  because  we,  who  passed  through  the  schools  a 
generation  ago,  are  so  ignorant  of  the  topography  and 
physical  conformations  of  the  Dark  Continent.  We  think 
of  it  simply  as  a horrid,  sickly  country.  We  can  hardly 
.believe  that  within  it  are  snow-clad  mountains,  charming 
valleys,  and  lovely  landscape  scenery. 

Africa  is  a beautiful  country.  Let  the  reader  imagine 


THE  BASSA  COUNTRY  COAST. 


12 


LIBERIA  : 


himself  viewing  the  land  from  the  deck  of  a steamer.  The 
golden-sanded  beach  stretches  away  into  the  distance. 
The  waves  look  like  crystal  drops  as  they  break  amidst 
the  golden  sands.  From  amidst  the  dense,  variegated 
foliage  come  the  sweet  carolings  of  birds  of  beautiful  plu- 
mage. Back  of  all  are  the  everlasting  hills,  standing  at  some 
points  on  the  coast  like  grand  old  sentinels  of  nature.  Be- 
yond them  all  are  the  mountain  ranges,  seen  dimly  through 
the  eyes,  but  rising  boldly  in  your  glasses.  The  water  of 
ocean,  lake,  and  river  is  clear  as  crystal — beautiful  as  a sea 
of  glass.  The  azure  skies  glisten  in  the  light  of  the  sun, 
but  grow  soft  when  “the  stars  hold  their  vigil  around  the 
midnight  throne.”  It  is  grand.  I saw  it  and  rejoiced. 

Our  steamer  stopped  in  the  harbor  of  a West  African 
city.  A small  boat  came  for  me  from  the  shore.  I de- 
scended the  ladder,  crossed  the  dangerous  sand-bar,  and 
stood  early  one  August  morning  upon  African  soil.  It  was 
in  the  confines  of  the  Americo-African  Republic,  known 
in  the  family  of  nations  as  Liberia ; where  colored  Ameri- 
cans have  been  going  for  more  than  half  a century  with 
the  hope  to  find  a field  in  which  to  grow  to  the  full  stature 
of  manhood,  and  to  exercise  the  prerogatives  of  rulers  in 
a government  of  Africans. 

Monrovia,  built  on  a plateau  including  an  area  of  about 
three-quarters  of  a mile  square,  eighty  feet  above  the  level 
of  the  sea,  on  the  summit  of  Cape  Mesurado,  the  Plymouth 
Rock  of  Liberia,  looks  picturesque.  The  whole  view  is 
charming.  Here,  sixty-five  years  ago,  a band  of  brave,  heroic 
colored  people  from  America  landed  and  established  a home 
of  their  own.  Here,  thirty-eight  years  ago,  a government 
.of  the  Negro,  for  the  Negro,  and  by  the  Negro  was  institu- 
ted, amidst  praise  and  prayer.  Sharp  and  uneven  has  been 
the  contest.  Poor  and  unlettered  men  have  struggled  with 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC. 


13 


“the  audacity  of  faith”  to  solve  the  Problem  of  Negro 
Independence.  Various  have  been  the  opposing  forces. 
Death  has  reaped  an  abundant  harvest.  War,  hunger,  and 
disease  have  been  his  instruments.  The  struggle  still  con- 
tinues, but  with  no  apparent  decisive  results.  Interesting 
is  the  impression  which  I formed  of  this  country — its 
climate,  resources,  and  people. 


HE  Americo- African  Republic  is  situated  on  the  west- 


ern shore  of  Africa,  occupying  what  is  known  as  the 
Grain  Coast.  Its  undisputed  territory  begins  on  the  north, 
from  the  south  bank  of  the  Manna  River,  about  6°  8o/ 
north  latitude,  and  runs  as  far  south  as  the  San  Pedro 
River,  about  40  20'  north  latitude,  a distance  of  about  600 
miles.  Its  interior  boundary  can  not  be  definitely  stated. 
Some  authorities  make  it  to  run  back  about  200  miles.  East 
of  Liberia  is  the  Soudan,  the  abode  of  Ethiopia’s  teeming 
millions ; on  the  west  is  the  Atlantic  Ocean ; north  is 
Sierra  Leone,  the  English  colony ; and  south,  though  not 
contiguous,  is  Ashantee,  the  powerful  Negro  monarchy. 

Running  down  the  West  Coast  we  come  to  a French 
possession,  Grand  Bassam  ; and  next,  the  English  colonies, 
Axim  and  Cape  Coast.  The  English  desire  to  secure 
Grand  Bassam  from  the  French.  If  they  succeed,  either 
by  purchase  or  seizure,  the  entire  coast  line  from  Sierra 
Leone  to  the  Cameroons  would  be  under  the  control  of 


CHAPTER  II. 


THE  SEARCH  FOR  AFRICAN  TERRITORY. 


14 


LIBERIA  : 


an  English-speaking  people,  and  under  the  influence  of 
British  and  Americo-African  civilization.  This  would  in- 
clude a coast  line  of  about  two  thousand  geographical 
miles. 

Liberia  is  the  fruit  of  American  colonization.  The  first 
practical  colonizationist  was  a Negro,  Paul  Cuffee,  of  New 
Bedford,  Mass.  This  bold  leader,  full  of  zeal  for  the  civ- 
ilization of  Africa,  took,  in  1815,  forty  colored  persons  in 
his  own  vessel,  at  his  own  expense,  from  Boston  to  Sierra 
Leone,  which  was  the  colony  established  on  the  West 
African  Coast  by  Great  Britain  for  the  reception  of  slaves 
captured  from  the  Americans  in-  the  Revolutionary  War. 

Rev.  Dr.  G.  W.  Samson,  ex-President  of  Columbian 
University,  Washington,  D.  C.,  in  a Memorial  on  behalf 
of  Liberian  Interests,  presented  to  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  and  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  September 
18,  1885,  makes  this  historically  accurate  statement : 

“ Liberia  had  its  origin  in  a want  and  duty  of  the  Uni- 
ted States.  That  want  is  presented  in  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States,  Art.  I.,  Sec.  9,  Par.  1,  in  these  words: 
‘ The  migration  or  importation  of  such  persons  as  any  of 
the  States  now  existing  shall  think  proper  to  admit,  shall 
not  be  prohibited  by  the  Congress  prior  to  the  year  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  eight.’ 

“ This  period  expired  near  the  close  of  the  second  term 
of  President  Jefferson’s  administration.  Being  recognized 
as  referring  mainly  to  the  importation  of  slaves  from  Africa, 
President  Jefferson  considered  the  need  of  an  asylum  for 
Africans  to  be  seized  and  provided  for  when  expected 
violations  of  law  should  occur.  His  first  suggestion  was 
a treaty  with  Great  Britain,  which  Power  had  transferred 
African  slaves,  taken  during  the  war  for  American  Indepen- 
dence, to  Sierra  Leone  ; permitting  that  colony  to  serve  as 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC. 


15 


the  asylum  required.  The  second  war  with  Great  Britain, 
under  President  Madison,  frustrated  this  design  and  de- 
ferred the  provision  needed. 

“ Under  President  Monroe  the  necessity  for  such  an  asy- 
lum became  imperative,  since  captured  slaves  could  not 
be  protected  when  returned  to  the  African  Coast.” 

Congress  was  petitioned  to  establish  a colony  on  the 
West  Coast  of  Africa,  and  responded  favorably  with  a re- 
port containing  the  recommendation,  that  stipulations  be 
obtained  from  Great  Britain  and  other  maritime  powers, 
both  for  the  suppression  of  the  slave-trade,  and  also 
“ guaranteeing  a permanent  neutrality  for  any  colony  of 
free  people  of  color,  which , at  the  expense  and  under  the 
auspices  of  the  United  States,  shall  be  established  on  the 
African  Coast" ; to  which  was  added: 

Resolved,  That  adequate  provision  be  hereafter  made  to  defray 
any  necessary  expenses  which  may  be  incurred  in  carrying  the  pre- 
ceding resolution  into  effect. 

Finally,  on  the  3d  of  March,  1819,  an  Act  was  passed  by 
Congress,  authorizing  the  President  (then  President  Mon- 
roe) to  return  all  recaptured  Africans  to  Africa,  and  to 
provide  for  their  support  by  establishing  an  Agency  on 
the  West  Coast. 

The  Colonization  Society,  which  was  organized  in  1816, 
having  as  officers  such  men  as  Henry  Clay,  Bushrod  Wash- 
ington, and  President  Monroe,  became,  practically,  the 
General  Agent  of  the  United  States,  carrying  out  the 
provision  of  the  Act  of  1819  in  the  selection  and  estab- 
lishment of  what  is  now  known  as  the  Republic  of  Liberia. 
Practically  this  was  a Government  venture — the  only  co- 
lonial enterprise  to  which  this  country  ever  committed 
itself. 


i6 


LIBERIA  : 


In  February,  1820,  Samuel  Bacon,  as  United  States  Agent, 
started  from  New  York  City  for  the  West  Coast  of  Africa 
with  eighty-eight  persons  of  color,  in  the  ship  Elizabeth , 
which  was  chartered  by  the  Government,  and  sailed  under 
the  flag  of  the  United  States.  The  colored  colonists  were 
given  free  passage,  they  agreeing  to  prepare  suitable  ac- 
commodations on  the  West  Coast  for  the  recaptured  Af- 
ricans. 

The  colonists  made  their  first  stop,  after  leaving  New 
York  City,  at  Freetown,  the  capital  of  the  English  colony, 
Sierra  Leone.  Thence  they  sailed  to  the  island  of  Sher- 
bro,  where  they  disembarked.  The  English  governor  gave 
the  Americans  permission  to  reside  there  until  a location 
on  the  mainland  of  Africa  could  be  chosen  and  pur- 
chased. 

It  was  very  unhealthy  at  Sherbro.  It  is  so  now.  Fever 
made  sad  havoc.  Death  was  busy.  The  grave  was  never 
closed.  Back  to  Sierra  Leone,  from  the  jaws  of  death,  the 
disheartened  remnant  fled.  Many  died  there.  In  Fourah 
Bay  they  laid  them  down  to  rest  till  the  trump  of  the 
archangel  and  the  voice  of  God  shall  proclaim  the  dissolu- 
tion of  the  earth  and  the  resurrection  of  the  dead.  Great 
were  the  difficulties  experienced  in  planting  this  American 
colony  ; but  the  Government  and  the  Society  kept  straight 
onward. 

In  October,  1821,  the  United  States  Government  or- 
dered Lieut.  R.  F.  Stockton,  of  the  Navy,  to  proceed  to 
the  West  Coast  of  Africa,  and  select  and  purchase  terri- 
tory for  the  United  States  Agency. 

Stopping  at  Sierra  Leone,  Lieut.  Stockton’s  war-vessel 
took  on  board  the  Agent  and  a few  of  the  colored  Amer- 
-ican  colonists.  They  moved  slowly  down  the  coast,  look- 
ing for  an  inviting  site  for  the  settlement.  When  they 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC. 


17 


came  to  Cape  Mesurado,*  a bold  promontory,  eighty  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  sea,  the  party  decided  to  make  a 
purchase  of  land.  The  war-ship  hove-to  and  dropped  an- 
chor. The  Lieutenant  (who  was  promoted  to  be  Captain, 
and  who  subsequently  became  Commodore)  went  ashore. 
He  explored  the  country  round  about  the  lofty  Cape, 
rowing  up  the  Mesurado  River,  and  a stream  which  now 
bears  the  name  of  this  bold  and  brave  officer — Stockton 
Creek. 

While  Capt.  Stockton  and  his  party  moved  around  by 
day,  interviewing  the  native  kings  and  chiefs,  and  ex- 
amining and  exploring  the  country,  the  slave-traders  were 
also  at  work.  They  knew  that  a settlement  there  would 
destroy  their  business. 

A foreign-born  colored  man  in  their  employ  circulated 
among  the  natives  lies  and  slanders  prejudicial  to  the 
Americans.  The  aboriginal  kings  and  chiefs  were  made 
to  feel  that  Capt.  Stockton’s  enterprise  meant  no  good 
to  them,  but  would  prove  positively  hurtful.  They  were 
urged  to  refuse  to  sell  any  part  of  the  land  to  the  Ameri- 
can people. 

Of  course  there  was  arranged  a public  conference.  The 
Africans  call  it  “ Palaver.”  The  day  came.  The  King 
and  Chiefs  assembled  with  scores  of  their  armed  followers. 
Capt.  Stockton  and  escort,  Agent  Eli  Ayres,  and  a few 
colored  American  colonists  were  on  hand  ; so  was  the  col- 
ored slave-trader. 

The  “ Palaver  ” began.  Capt.  Stockton  explained  his 

* This  Cape  was  named  by  the  Spaniards.  In  the  early  days  of  the  slave-trade 
a squad  of  well-armed  Spanish  marines  landed  there,  searching  doubtless  for  slaves. 
The  natives  attacked  them.  A furious  contest  took  place,  and  the  Spaniards  were 
cut  down  by  the  bold,  warlike  Deys.  During  the  fight,  the  Spanish  marines  cried 
“ Misericordia  ! Misericordia  ! ” “ Mercy  ! Mercy  ! ” The  Cape  came  to  be  called 
Mesurado  ; by  some,  Montserrado,  a corruption  of  the  Spanish  “ Misericordia.” 


i8 


LIBERIA  : 


mission,  and  made  his  proposal  for  the  purchase  of  land 
The  natives  replied.  The  “Palaver”  grew  warm.  The 
colored  slave-trader,  who  could  speak  the  native  language, 
the  Dey,  boldly  and  frequently  interjected  such  comments 
and  interruptions  as  were  clearly  making  trouble.  Feeling 
ran  high.  Imminent  peril  threatened  the  lives  of  the  Amer- 
icans. Destruction  would  have  overtaken  the  strangers, 
had  not  Capt.  Stockton,  with  great  coolness  and  presence 
of  mind,  drawn  his  revolver,  held  it  at  the  colored  slave- 
trader’s  head,  ordered  his  marines  to  prepare  to  fire,  and 
threatened  death  to  any  man  who  dared  to  break  the  peace. 
Under  this  self-possessed  and  determined  action  the 
colored  slave-trader  grew  “ mild  as  a sucking  dove.” 
The  natives,  knowing  the  white  man’s  war  power,  and 
seeing  “the  fighting  ship”  in  the  harbor,  grew  calm,  and 
the  itegotiations  proceeded  decently  and  in  order.  The 
result  was  the  signing  and  delivery  of  this  deed  of  sale : 

“ Witnesseth  : That  whereas  certain  persons,  citizens  of 
the  United  States  of  America,  are  desirous  to  establish 
themselves  on  the  Western  Coast  of  Africa,  and  have  in- 
vested Capt.  Robert  F.  Stockton  and  Eli  Ayres  with  full 
powers  to  treat  with  and  purchase  from  us,  the  said  kings, 
princes,  and  head  men,  certain  lands  [which  are  described], 
we  do  hereby,  in  consideration  of  [certain  specified  articles 
or  merchandise],  forever  cede  and  relinquish  the  above 
described  lands  to  Capt.  Robert  F.  Stockton  and  Eli  Ayres ; 
To  Have  and  To  Hold  the  said  premises  for  the  use  of 
these  said  citizens  of  America.” 

This  deed  was  duly  executed  and  delivered  on  payment 
of  the  stipulated  price  by  these  Agents  of  the  United 
States  Government,  and  thus  was  planted  the  seed  of 
what  has  grown  to  be  the  Americo-African  Republic. 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC. 


19 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  STRUGGLE  TO  ESTABLISH  THE  COLONY. 


IT  is  not  my  purpose  to  dwell  upon  the  details  of  Li- 
berian history.  Therefore  with  this  brief  statement, 
which  should  not  be  overlooked,  and  which  will  interest 
the  reader,  I shall  pass  to  an  examination  of  the  climate, 
resources,  and  people  of  the  country. 

The  slave-traders  were  not  easily  subdued.  They  were 
cast  down,  but  not  destroyed.  They  were  vanquished, 
but  not  routed.  They  lingered  around  the  Cape,  stirred 
up  the  bad  blood  of  the  natives,  and  incited  them  to  make 
war  on  the  colonists. 

Soon  after  the  purchase,  which  Capt.  Stockton  effected, 
a large  number  of  armed  natives  made  their  appearance 
and  attacked  the  colonists.  They  were  driven  away  ; but 
for  months  they  annoyed  the  new  settlers,  causing  them 
to  sleep  on  their  arms,  and  to  build  their  cabins  with  their 
swords  at  their  sides  and  their  guns  within  reach. 

It  was  a time  that  tried  men’s  souls.  These  difficulties 
alone  caused  great  hardships ; but  they  were  not  all.  An 
enemy  more  persistent  than  the  hostile  natives,  and  dead- 
lier by  far,  played  sad  havoc  in  that  heroic  colony. 

The  West  Coast  of  Africa  is  called  “The  White  Man’s 
Grave.”  Mr.  Spurgeon,  the  great  London  divine,  said  to 
me  in  April,  1883:  “We  English  people  think  the  West 
Coast  climate  fatal  to  white  men.  We  always  have  two 
Governors  for  our  colony,  Sierra  Leone — one  dead,  being 
brought  home ; and  the  other  alive,  on  his  way  out.” 

The  spirit  of  this  remark  is  true.  White  men  can  not 
stand  the  climate.  After  a bitter  struggle  with  it  they 


20 


LIBERIA  : 


either  retire  or  die.  Missionaries,  traders,  and  commercial 
men  go  to  the  West  Coast  with  the  understanding,  which 
is  usually  put  in  the  contract,  that  they  must  have  a change 
of  climate  in  two  or  three  years.  There  are  the  exceptions  ; 
but  the  rule  for  white  men  is  to  retire  or  die. 

This  fact  tried  both  the  Government  and  their  General 
Agent,  the  Colonization  Society,  in  their  early  efforts  to 
foster  the  colony  planted  in  1821  at  Cape  Mesurado,  where 
now  stands  Monrovia,  the  capital  of  Liberia,  named  in 
honor  of  President  Monroe. 

As  early  as  1822  there  was  not  a white  American  on  the 
Cape.  The  hostile  climate  put  to  flight  even  the  intrepid 
Dr.  Eli  Ayres.  It  would  have  destroyed  Liberia,  root  and 
branch,  had  it  not  been  for  the  heroic  conduct  of  one  of 
the^  noblest  men  the  world  has  ever  seen.  He  was  a 
Negro.  His  son,  born  in  Africa,  an  Americo-African,  is 
now  the  able  and  scholarly  President  of  the  Republic  of 
Liberia. 

The  name  of  Elijah  JOHNSON  is  held  in  great  rever- 
ence by  all  of  his  countrymen.  Like  Toussaint  L’Ouver- 
ture  he  was  brave  and  heroic  ; and  like  George  Washington 
he  was  patriotic  and  noble.  When,  under  the  pressure  of 
the  hostile  natives  and  a deadly  climate,  it  was  proposed 
to  abandon  the  settlement  on  Cape  Mesurado  and  return 
to  the  United  States,  Elijah  Johnson  lifted  up  his  voice 
and  made  this  heroic  declaration : “ I have  been  two  years 
searching  for  a home  in  Africa.  I have  found  it ; and 
I shall  stay  here." 

This  courageous  stand  touched  the  hearts  of  the  people  ; 
and  they  resolved  to  establish  right  there  a home  and  a gov- 
ernment for  themselves,  their  posterity,  and  their  breth- 
ren who  were  still  in  bondage  in  America,  or  to  die  in  the 
attempt.  The  white  agents,  thoroughly  discouraged,  aban- 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC. 


21 


doned  the  enterprise,  and  Elijah  Johnson  became  Gov- 
ernor of  the  colony. 

The  situation  was  gloomy.  None  but  a hero  could  have 
faced  it  undaunted.  The  climate  was  trying.  The  natives 
were  exceedingly  hostile.  They  regretted  the  sale  of  the 
Cape,  and  determined  to  expel  or  exterminate  the  colon- 
ists. Governor  Johnson’s  naval  stores  became  exhausted. 
Who  can  fitly  describe  the  embarrassing  situation  ? The 
Governor  and  his  followers  must  have  felt  like  the  Amer- 
ican Pilgrim  Fathers  when,  with  bated  breath,  they  said 
one  to  the  other,  “Oursupplies  are  out  ” ! Here,  it  was  death 
from  wild  Indians,  starvation,  and  cold  on  Plymouth  Rock. 
There, it  was  death  from  hostile  Africans, fever,  and  exposure 
on  Cape  Mesurado.  But  annihilation  was  only  threatened. 
It  did  not  come.  God  sent  the  ship  with  daily  bread  to 
the  American  Rock;  and  He  too  sent  the  ship  with  naval 
stores  to  the  African  Cape. 

One  night  the  sentry  hearing  a noise  not  far  from  the 
settlement  and  thinking  that  the  natives  were  approach- 
ing, fired  a cannon,  and  aroused  the  sleeping  colonists. 
There  was,  however,  no  cause  for  alarm.  The  noise  may 
have  been  caused  by  the  footsteps  of  some  prowling  leop- 
ards ; but  there  was  a special  Providence  in  the  firing  of 
that  cannon. 

An  English  man-of-war  was  passing.  Hearing  the  dis- 
charge, the  commander  dropped  anchor  and  sent  a detail 
ashore  to  make  an  investigation.  The  colonists  rejoiced 
at  this  opportunity  to  supply  themselves  with  powder. 
They  were  even  then  recognized  as  an  ally  in  the  sup- 
pression of  the  slave-trade. 

Again  Governor  Johnson  saved  a country  and  a Gov- 
ernment to  his  posterity.  The  English  naval  officer  vol- 
unteered assistance  by  arms  and  effective  protection  if  a 


22 


LIBERIA  : 


few  feet  of  ground  were  ceded  on  which  to  erect  the 
British  flag.  Gov.  Johnson  promptly  replied,  “We  want 
no  flag-staff  put  up  here  that  will  cost  more  to  get  it 
down  than  to  whip  the  natives.”  In  this  patriotic  act 
Elijah  Johnson  showed  that  he  possessed  the  mind  and 
the  spirit  of  a far-seeing  statesman.  He  looked  down  the 
vista  of  coming  ages  and  saw  the  occurrences  of  the  pres- 
ent generation,  the  scramble  for  West  African  territory 
which  is  going  on  among  European  nations.  Had  Eng- 
land planted  herself  then  on  Cape  Mesurado,  she  never 
would  have  withdrawn. 

But,  as  our  aim  is  not  history,  we  pass  over  the  events 
of  Gov.  Johnson’s  administration.  We  shall  not  pause  to 
describe  the  growth  and  development  of  the  colony  un- 
der the  fostering  care  of  the  American  Colonization  So- 
ciety ; nor  the  heroic  and  self-sacrificing  labors  of  such 
men  as  Governors  Ayres,  Ashmun,  Russwurm,  Pinney, 
and  Lot  Cary.  It  is  enough  now  and  here  to  say  that 
the  early  American  settlers  in  Africa  met  and  bore  their 
difficulties  with  a brave  and  heroic  spirit,  finding  their 
greatest  obstacle  in  a trying,  a hostile,  a deadly  climate. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

CLIMATE — THE  RAINY  SEASON. 


THE  Americo-African  Republic  lies  wholly  within  the 
tropics,  and  is  very  near  the  equator.  Its  southern 
extremity  is  only  four  degrees  north  of  that  great  belt, 
and  its  northern  limit  seven  degrees.  The  days  and  nights 
are  practically  equal.  There  is  no  twilight.  Darkness  fol- 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC.  23 

lows  fast  behind  the  setting  sun  ; and  the  daylight  breaks 
again  suddenly  upon  the  darkness. 

The  climate  is  essentially  different  from  that  of  the 
United  States,  excepting  the  lower  part  of  Florida.  Per- 
petual summer  reigns.  The  grass  and  foliage  are  ever 
green. 

But  torrid  heat  does  not  always  prevail.  Indeed  the 
new-comer  is  generally  surprised  by  the  prevailing  climate 
of  the  West  Coast.  We  usually  think  of  Africa  as  a red- 
hot  furnace.  True,  in  Nubia  and  Upper  Egypt  eggs 
may  be  roasted  in  the  hot  sand ; but  along  the  Mediter- 
ranean and  to  the  south  of  the  Desert  of  Sahara  the  cli- 
mate is  more  temperate ; at  times  cold.  Indeed,  in  the  in- 
terior and  even  near  the  equator  perpetual  snow  is  found. 

The  West  African  year  may  be  divided  into  two  sea- 
sons, the  wet  and  the  dry.  The  rain  begins  in  Liberia  in 
May,  and  ceases  in  October.  It  is  dry  the  remainder  of 
the  year. 

This  is  the  recognized  division ; but  in  some  respects  it 
is  confusing.  It  is  impossible  to  accurately  define  these 
seasons.  An  English  sea-captain  of  thirty  years’  experi- 
ence on  the  West  Coast,  tried  to  give  a description  to  his 
friends,  but  failed.  He  impatiently  said,  “ This  is  the  idea ; 
In  the  rainy  season  it  rains  every  day,  and  in  the  dry 
season  it  rains  any  day.”  But  this  is  not  true. 

In  the  rainy  season  there  are  some  beautiful  days. 
Many  an  afternoon  have  I enjoyed  a boat-ride  on  the 
Monrovia  Bay  in  this  season.  It  has  rained  in  the  Dries  as 
if  the  clouds  were  all  falling  down  upon  the  earth.  In  the 
rainy  season  there  is  what  is  called  the  Middle  Dries.  For 
from  three  to  six  weeks  Nature  gives  man  an  opportunity 
to  gather  in  his  rice  crop.  She  will  not  starve  him,  if  he 
is  industrious.  The  sky  is  clear;  the  sun  shines  bright; 


24 


LIBERIA  : 


the  air  is  cool  and  bracing.  After  long,  weary  months  of 
water,  mud,  and  dampness,  the  Middle  Dries  brings  sun- 
shine, vigor,  and  cheerfulness.  One  feels  as  if  he  could 
live  forever  in  such  a climate ; but  it  ends ; and  the  rains 
begin  again  with  increased  fury,  as  if  to  make  up  for  lost 
time.  They  call  it  Middle  Dries  because  it  comes  between 
the  seasons — in  the  middle  of  them.  It  is  clear  from  all 
this,  that  there  can  be  no  arbitrary  division  of  the  year. 

Terrific  tornadoes  precede  and  end  the  rainy  season.  In 
April  and  October  the  skies  resound  with  the  clash  of 
electric  shocks.  The  forked  lightning  leaps  and  dances 
through  the  clouds,  the  forests,  and  the  earth ; and  the 
winds  howl  furiously  or  moan  piteously. 

By  May  everybody  is  prepared  for  the  rains,  just  as  in 
the  Northern  part  of  the  United  States  people  are  ready 
by  Thanksgiving  Day  for  winter;  and  when  they  fairly 
get  to  falling,  the  man  who  sees  them  for  the  first  time, 
wonders  if  the  world  is  again  to  be  destroyed  by  a flood, 
and  if  the  great  day  of  the  Lord  has  come. 

Rising  one  morning  in  August  off  the  West  Coast,  I 
looked  through  the  port  of  our  steamer  and  was  surprised 
at  the  thickness  of  what  appeared  to  be  a fog.  I dressed 
and  started  o‘n  deck  for  a walk  before  breakfast.  To  my 
surprise  I found  that  we  were  in  the  African  rains.  It  was 
like  a fog  on  Long  Island  Sound,  or  off  the  coasts  of  New- 
foundland. At  times  our  steamer  stood  still,  the  pilot 
being  unable  to  find  his  way  through  the  drenching,  driv- 
ing rain. 

The  prevailing  weather  during  this  season  is  damp  and 
cool.  The  thermometer  averages  Jo°  Fahrenheit.  A fire 
is  comfortable  in  the  early  morning  and  in  the  evening. 
Indeed,  the  natives,  at  dark,  invariably  build  fires  in  their 
houses,  and  keep  them  up  all  night.  This  is  healthy  and 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC. 


25 


wise.  The  Americo-Africans  do  not  have  a fire  in  their 
houses.  Most  of  the  houses  are  built  in  style  like  those 
in  the  Southern  part  of  the  United  States.  The  kitchen 
is  off  from  the  house ; and  in  Liberia  the  residences,  as  a 
rule,  are  without  fire-places.  Dampness,  therefore,  reigns 
supreme.  My  towels  have  hung  on  the  wash-stand  rack 
in  my  bedroom  damp  from  one  day  to  another.  No 
wonder  that  rheumatism  is  a common  complaint  among 
the  Americo-Africans. 

The  stranger  is  comfortable  in  the  rainy  season  in  the 
same  clothing  which  is  worn  in  New  York  or  London  in 
the  fall  of  the  year,  excepting  the  overcoat.  Much  of  the 
suffering  among  the  emigrants  sent  out  by  the  American 
Colonization  Society  arises  from  the  fact  that  they  go  to 
the  West  Coast  from  “the  sweet,  sunny  South,”  without 
sufficient  or  proper  clothing.  Flannel  ought  to  be  worn 
next  to  the  skin,  and  most  persons  who  can  afford  it,  do 
so.  Although  there  are  many  who  advocate  cotton  as 
undergarments ; yet,  all  other  things  being  equal,  those 
wearing  flannel  are  healthier  than  those  who  wear  cotton, 
often  nothing  at  all,  underneath  their  outer  clothing. 

There  is  less  sickness  and  there  are  fewer  deaths  in  the 
rainy  than  in  the  dry  season.  Body  and  mind  have  more 
vigor.  The  evenings  remind  us  of  the  long  American 
winter  nights,  when  we  close  the  blinds,  pull  down  the  cur- 
tains, stir  up  the  fire,  light  the  gas,  draw  up  to  the  study 
table,  and  commune  with  those  gifted  and  immortal  minds 
who  have  left  “ footprints  on  the  sands  of  time.” 

In  this  season  business  slackens.  The  rivers  rise  and 
become  dangerous.  Travel  on  them  is  often  attended 
with  fatal  consequences.  The  Government  of  Liberia  has 
done  comparatively  nothing  for  internal  improvements, 
such  as  opening  roads,  building  bridges,  etc.  ; hence  it  is 


26 


LIBERIA  : 


impossible  to  move  around  through  the  country  freely 
during  the  rains.  The  merchants  and  traders  sit  quietly 
in  their  places  of  business,  review  the  transactions  of  the 
last  dry  season,  and  plan  their  operations  for  the  next. 
The  camwood  and  palm-trees,  which  furnish  valuable  arti- 
cles of  trade,  grow  on  undisturbed  even  by  native  industry. 
The  coffee-tree  and  sugar-cane,  the  chief  staples  of  Libe- 
rian agriculture,  enlarge,  and  blossom,  and  mature,  while 
the  cultivators  lounge  and  cry,  like  the  old  Southern 
slave,  “ More  rain,  more  rest.” 

It  is  impossible  to  give  a clear  idea  of  the  African  rains. 
The  water  does  not  fall  in  drops,  but  in  sheets.  It  sounds 
as  if  all  the  clouds  were  tumbling  down  at  once.  If  the 
reader  should  take  a hogshead  of  water  to  the  third  story 
window  of  a house  and  empty  it  upon  the  roof  of  the 
piazza  below,  he  would  have  an  idea  of  how  the  falling 
rain  sounded  in  Africa  to  me,  as  I listened  to  it  under  the 
iron  roof  of  my  attic  room. 

But  the  gloom,  and  the  damp,  and  the  rain,  and  the 
wind,  like  all  things  human,  change  ; and  we  come  out  of 
them  into  the  bright,  cheering  sunlight. 


CTOBER  is  the  month  of  light  tornadoes  and  fre- 


quent showers.  It  is,  therefore,  called  “ the  month 
of  short  journeys.”  It  ushers  in  the  dry  season.  With  it 
“ the  melancholy  days  ” depart  and  the  bright  skies  are, 
as  a rule,  without  a cloud. 

These  African  tornadoes  are  wondrous  to  behold.  They 


CHAPTER  V. 


CLIMATE — THE  DRY  SEASON, 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC. 


27 


come  suddenly,  and  for  a brief  space  of  time  riot  madly, 
and  as  suddenly  end  their  fury. 

One  afternoon  I was  boat-riding  with  some  friends  on 
Monrovia  Bay.  Suddenly  a cloud,  “ no  bigger  than  a 
man’s  hand,”  appeared.  Rapidly  it  spread  over  the  heav- 
ens until  it  cast  deep  darkness  upon  the  waters.  We 
headed  for  the  land ; and  our  Kroo  boatmen  pulled  hard 
for  the  shore.  The  bay  became  suddenly  turbulent.  We 
were  dashed  hither  and  thither  by  the  white-crested  waves. 
The  wind  grew  fiercer  every  moment.  The  black  clouds 
completely  blotted  out  the  sun.  The  lightning  flashes 
became  blinding  and  rapid.  The  heavens,  at  times,  for  a 
brief  moment  seemed  to  be  on  fire.  The  thunder  roared 
like  hungry  lions  eager  for  their  prey.  Man  and  bird  and 
beast  rushed  pell-mell  to  seek  shelter  from  the  storm. 
Suddenly  the  lightning  ceased  ; the  thunder  hushed  ; and 
the  winds  died  away.  Then  as  suddenly  the  rain  descended 
in  torrents  and  the  floods  came  with  the  voice  of  many 
waters.  In  an  hour  or  two  it  was  all  over ; and  the  silvery 
moon  shone  with  great  splendor. 

November  is  the  queen  of  the  months.  The  dome  of 
heaven  is  beautiful  beyond  description.  The  grass  is 
greener  after  the  rains.  Everything  is  brighter  for  the 
washing.  Out  of  the  thick,  variegated  foliage  a rosebud, 
a blossom,  or  a flower  peeps  ; and  lo  ! the  sweet  notes  of 
birds  of  beautiful  plumage  are  heard.  Even  the  stranger, 
worn  with  fever,  wonders  why  this  is  not  considered  the 
loveliest  climate  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  I have  plunged 
into  the  ocean  surf  in  the  early  morning;  and  in  the  after- 
noon I have  wandered  up  the  hill  and  along  “ the  shores  of 
the  far-resounding  sea,”  till  the  setting  sun  went  down 
with  my  messages  of  cheer,  which  I invariably  sent  to  my 
friends  across  the  boundless  deep. 


28 


LIBERIA  : 


I have  never  seen  more  beautiful  days  than  those  of 
November  and  December  in  Liberia.  The  azure  skies, 
the  golden  beams  of  the  sun,  the  fragrance  of  the  early 
morning,  and  the  cool  breezes  of  the  afternoon,  all  unite 
to  make  the  heart  rejoice  and  the  soul  to  praise  God.  I 
was  once  in  an  interior  Liberian  town,  Arthington,  bo- 
somed in  green  and  lofty  hills,  at  whose  feet  the  St.  Paul’s 
River  flows,  making  sweet  music  as  it  madly  leaps  and 
dashes  over  the  murmuring  shallows.  I looked  from  my 
window  over  the  hills  and  valleys  and  saw  a brilliant  sun- 
rise, and  felt  the  full  force  of  Addison’s  sublime  ode : 

The  unwearied  sun  from  day  to  day 
Doth  his  Creator’s  power  display, 

And  publishes  to  every  land 
The  work  of  an  almighty  hand. 

But  it  is  the  night  scene  I most  admired.  One  sees 
brilliancy  beyond  description  when 

“ The  stars  hold  their  vigil  round  the  midnight  throne.” 

The  clearness  of  the  atmosphere  can  not  be  excelled  by 
anything  of  the  kind  which  is  known  in  other  parts  of  the 
world.  Famous  as  is  the  Italian  sky,  I think  it  can  hardly 
rival  what  one  sees  in  Africa.  European  astronomers,  it 
is  said,  visiting  this  land,  especially  in  the  midst  of  the 
Dries,  look  with  astonishment  on  the  nocturnal  splendor 
of  the  heavens ; some  of  the  planets  shining  with  great 
brilliancy  and  occasioning  deep  and  well-defined  shadows. 

The  thermometer  in  this  season  shows  an  average,  until 
the  month  of  February,  of  about  850  Fahrenheit.  It 
would  be  too  high  to  put  it  at  90°.  It  never  is  as  hot  as 
in  New  York  City  in  mid-summer.  Most  people  are  sur- 
prised at  this.  Nevertheless  it  is  true  that  Americans  ex- 
perience hotter  weather  in  August,  especially  in  the  cen- 
tres of  civilization,  than  the  Liberians  ever  feel. 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC. 


29 


What  a strange  world  ! In  November  the  people  of  the 
United  States  are  having  cold  weather.  The  merchants 
sell  their  “ Fall  and  Winter  goods.”  I was  in  a large  mer- 
cantile establishment  in  Liberia  early  in  December,  and 
was  surprised  to  see  upon  the  counters  and  shelves 
“ Spring  and  Summer  goods  ” — bright  calicoes,  straw  hats 
and  bonnets,  white  vests,  linen  coats,  etc.,  etc. 

About  the  middle  of  December  a cold,  disagreeable,  and 
dangerous  wind  blows  through  the  land.  It  is  like  the 
sirocco  that  sweeps  over  Italy.  It  is  called  the  “ Harmattan 
Wind.”  It  blows  for  from  four  to  six  weeks.  During  these 
winds  the  thermometer  at  sunrise  and  at  sunset  averages 
66°,  and  it  seldom  rises  higher  than  8o°  at  any  time  dur- 
ing the  day. 

The  Harmattan  comes  from  the  interior ; some  say  from 
the  Desert  of  Sahara.  It  injures  vegetation,  and  affects 
the  lower  animals.  Man  does  not  escape.  It  is  the  sickly 
season.  Deaths  are  frequent.  People  suffer  from  neuralgia, 
colds,  and  coughs;  and  even  the  natives  are  affected.  The 
Harmattan  is  no  respecter  of  persons.  It  dries  up  the  eyes, 
nostrils,  and  mouth ; chaps  the  lips,  the  hands,  and  the 
face  ; opens  the  seams  of  furniture,  and  curls  up  the  leaves 
of  books  just  as  the  heat  of  the  fire  would  do.  Indeed,  it 
plays  havoc  in  general  with  man  and  beast.  The  physicians 
and  druggists,  though  few  in  number,  keep  busy,  and  the 
undertaker  and  the  grave-digger  are  not  unemployed. 

All  this  was  a surprise  in  my  experience.  When  getting 
my  medicines  in  London,  I struck  Ayer’s  Cherry  Pectoral 
from  the  list.  What  would  I want  with  a remedy  for 
colds  and  coughs  on  the  West  Coast  of  Africa?  A cold 
was  my  first  complaint ! 

After  the  Harmattan,  until  the  rains  again,  hot  weather 
holds  high  carnival.  February  and  March  are  the  hottest 


30 


LIBERIA  : 


months  of  the  year.  They  are  also  the  sickliest.  The 
thermometer,  it  is  said,  keeps  above  the  nineties,  though 
it  rarely  exceeds  950 ; but  the  heat  is  intense,  and  the  sea 
breeze,  which  blows  from  about  ten  o’clock  in  the  morn- 
ing until  midnight,  does  not  suffice  to  moisten  the  dry  and 
oppressive  atmosphere. 

By  this  time  the  reader,  doubtless,  asks,  why  is  there  so 
much  said  about  “ the  trying  African  climate  ” ? What  an 
equable  temperature  seems  to  prevail!  No  part  of  the 
United  States  can  match  it.  For  about  six  months  there 
is  an  average  of  720 ; for  about  three  months  it  is  from 
850  to  90°  ; and  at  no  time  does  the  thermometer  stay  for 
any  length  of  time  above  950.  Why  is  not  this  considered 
as  lovely  a climate  as  is  found  anywhere  on  the  earth  ? 

We  answer,  it  would  be  a delightful  climate,  a healthy 
country,  a veritable  El  Dorado,  if  it  were  not  for  this  fact 
— Malaria  is  king  ! 


CHAPTER  VI. 

CLIMATE — CAUSES  OF  UNHEALTHINESS. 


HE  Americo-African  Republic,  like  Holland,  has  a 


low  and  flat  coast.  Marshes  and  swamps  of  man- 
grove-trees abound.  These  trees  thrive  in  mud.  They 
are  found  near  the  mouths  of  rivers,  and  form  a close  and 
impenetrable  thicket.  They  spread  rapidly,  propagating 
themselves.  Their  branches  turn  down,  seek  the  mud, 
and  grow  to  be  trees,  and  in  this  way  increase  and  per- 
petuate the  species.  Their  foliage  is  abundant  and  dense, 
forming  secure  retreats  for  multitudes  of  aquatic  birds. 
The  leaves  and  branches  of  these  trees  fall  and  rot  and 
form  a sickening  mass  of  decayed  vegetation.  In  the 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC. 


31 


dry  season,  particularly,  the  sun  brings  out  of  this  reek- 
ing bed  of  putrefaction  an  extraordinary  amount  of  poison 
that  mingles  with  the  air,  and  both  man  and  beast  inhale 
disease  and  receive  the  seeds  of  infirmity  or  death. 

These  swamps,  and  their  sickly,  deadly  condition,  give 
character  to  the  climate  of  the  entire  West  Coast  belt, 
which  extends  back  into  the  country  for  several  miles.  It 
is  hard  to  fix  a definite  limit.  It  varies  at  different  points, 
following  the  physical  conformations  of  the  country.  This 
malarial  coast  belt  is  the  greatest  barrier  in  the  way  of  the 
growth  and  development  of  the  Americo-African  Repub- 
lic. As  long  as  the  swamps  and  marshes  stand  ; as  long 
as  there  is  not  money  or  energy  enough  to  counteract,  to 
some  extent,  by  drainage,  sewerage,  and  other  modern  ap- 
pliances, the  effect  of  these  miasmas,  so  long  will  Malaria 
reign ! 

Dr.  Edward  W.  Blyden,  a Negro  of  great  learning,  who 
has  lived  since  1852  on  the  West  Coast  of  Africa,  says,  in 
a scholarly  paper  in  an  English  magazine : * 

“ Now  it  is  well  known  that  a belt  of  malarious  lands, 
which  are  hot-beds  of  fever,  extends  along  the  whole  of 
the  West  Coast  of  Africa,  running  from  forty  to  fifty  miles 
back  from  the  sea-coast.  In  this  region  of  country  neither 
horses  nor  cattle  will  thrive.  Horses  will  not  live  at  all. 
Sheep,  goats,  and  hogs  drag  out  an  indifferent  existence. 
At  Sierra  Leone,  Monrovia,  and  other  settlements  on  the 
coast,  fortunes  have  been  expended  by  lovers  of  horses  in 
trying  to  keep  them,  but  with  the  most  scrupulous  and 
expensive  care  they  die. 

“ The  interior  tribes,  who  have  from  time  to  time  mi- 
grated to  the  coast,  have  perished  or  degenerated.  Every 
child  born  on  the  coast  is  stunted,  physically  and  mentally, 


* Fraser's  Magazine , October,  1876. 


32 


LIBERIA  : 


in  the  cradle  by  the  jungle  fever  which  assails  it  a few 
days  after  birth.  European  infants  seldom  survive  such 
attacks.  The  very  tribe  occupying  the  country  about  Gal- 
linas  and  Cape  Mount  have  traditions  that  they  came  to 
the  coast  as  conquerors,  driving  before  them  all  tribal  or- 
ganizations which  opposed  their  march.  They  were  a nu- 
merous, intelligent,  handsome  people.  Now  only  melan- 
choly traces  of  what  they  once  were  can  be  discovered  in 
individuals  of  that  waning  tribe. 

“ As  long  as  the  malarious  vegetation  and  deadly  man- 
grove swamps  occupy  so  large  a portion  of  West  African 
territory,  there  will  be  no  more  probability  of  making  any 
permanent  moral  or  even  material  progress  on  the  coast, 
or  of  developing  a great  mind,  than  there  is  in  improving 
the  haunts  of  the  polar  bear  and  the  reindeer.” 

Being  a pure  Negro,  and  an  enthusiastic  advocate  of 
the  colonization  of  American  colored  people  on  the  West 
Coast,  and  also  a resident  of  Africa  for  nearly  thirty-five 
years,  Dr.  Blyden’s  view  of  the  climate  may  be  accepted 
as  sound  and  correct. 

I have  seen  both  cows  and  horses  on  the  West  Coast  ; 
but  they  Avere  small  and  spiritless.  They  Avere  living  at 
“ a poor  dying  rate.”  The  English  Governor  of  Sierra 
Leone  keeps  a h.orse,  but  he  would  not  be  able  to  sell  it 
in  London.  Nobody  Avould  own  the  poor,  cadaverous- 
looking  creature.  I have  ridden  horseback  in  Monrovia  ; 
but  though  brought  down  from  the  interior  about  eighty 
miles,  the  animal  was  small  and  spiritless.  Under  the 
depressing  influence  of  the  coast  climate  he  became  worth- 
less in  a month,  and  soon  died.  Indeed,  the  life  of  man 
and  beast  on  the  coast  has  been  described  by  Dr.  Blyden 
in  these  words;  which  he  applies  only  to  white  men,  but 
which  admit  of  general  application  : 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC. 


33 


“ The  miasma  seems  to  have  a singular  effect ; ...  . 
where  it  does  not  at  once  extinguish  life,  it  diminishes  im- 
perceptibly its  force,  sapping  physical  energy  and  render- 
ing the  mind  dull  and  spiritless.”  * 

Rev.  Dr.  Wilson,  who  from  long  years  of  residence  and 
travel  in  West  Africa,  knew  the  climate  well,  and  whose 
book,  “ Western  Africa,”  breathes  a Christian,  an  unpreju- 
diced, and  a hopeful  spirit,  says : 

“A  belt  of  the  densest  wood  and  jungle  of  a hundred 
miles  wide,  extends  along  the  whole  length  of  Western 
Africa,  and  is,  no  doubt,  the  chief  cause  of  the  sickness 

which  prevails  in  this  region When  these  natural 

forests  are  once  cut  down,  the  land  is  soon  covered  by  a 
jungle  of  undergrowth  which  is  almost  impenetrable  for 
man  or  beast.”  f He  also  says: 

“ Another  great  drawback  to  the  prosperity  of  Liberia 
is  the  undoubted  unhealthiness  of  the  climate.  The  pro- 
cess of  acclimation  must  be  passed  through  even  by  colored 
persons;  and  for  the  first  six  months  it  is  quite  as  trying 
to  them  as  to  the  whites.”:}: 

Another  writer  may  be  profitably  quoted  in  this  connec- 
tion. He  says  : “ The  sun  pours  its  fiercest  rays  upon  these 
marshes.  They  become  stagnant,  and  the  vegetable  and 
animal  matter  in  them  becomes  putrid.  The  breeze  passes 
over  these  desolate  and  extensive  regions  and  carries  with 
it  the  seeds  of  fever  and  death  in  every  direction.”  § 
Finally,  let  us  get  the  testimony  of  one  of  the  United 
States  Ministers  to  the  Republic  of  Liberia.  He  wrote  the 
Government : “ It  has  been  demonstrated  that  neither 
horses  nor  mules  can  withstand  the  climate  on  the  sea-coast. 


* “ From  West  Africa  to  Palestine,”  p.  15.  t “ Western  Africa,”  p.  27. 

X Ibid.,  p.  104.  § Moister’s  “ Memorials  of  Missionary  Labors  in  Africa.” 


2 


34 


LIBERIA  : 


Horses  are  found  in  the  interior,  but  when  brought  to  the 
coast  they  sicken  and  die.  Although  constant  summer 
prevails,  as  to  temperature,  the  miasmatic  influence  caused 
by  heavy  rains  alternating  with  the  hot  sunshine,  causes 
sickness  during  six  months  of  the  year,  and  during  the  re- 
maining six  months  the  power  of  the  sun  is  such  that  it  is 
almost  impossible  for  any  one,  except  a native,  to  work;  as 
it  produces  inertia,  lassitude,  want  of  energy.  Indeed, 
after  a man  has  once  had  the  fever  he  never,  in  Africa,  re- 
gains the  energy  he  was  possessed  of  before.”* 

This  is  a strong  statement.  I do  not  indorse  it  in  its 
entirety.  Its  general  tendency  is  correct.  Perhaps,  how- 
ever, we  have  tarried  here  too  long.  Everybody  believes 
the  climate  to  be  unhealthy ; but  everybody  is  not  informed 
as  to  the  nature  and  extent  of  the  unhealthiness.  Many 
turn  their  backs  upon  the  West  Coast  of  Africa,  with  the 
sneer,  “It’s  a death-trap”;  while  others  either  conceal  or 
deny  the  unhealthiness  of  its  coast-belt.  Let  us  enter  our 
earnest  protest  against  both  positions.  Back  from  the 
Liberian  coast,  for  example,  are  the  hills,  the  Linley  and 
the  Kong  Mountains,  a salubrious  climate  and  a healthy 
land ; and  this  is  also  true  of  the  Congo.  But  capital, 
brains,  and  energy  are  required  to  open  wagon-roads,  build 
bridges,  construct  railroads,  put  freight  boats  on  the  rivers, 
and  thus  flood  the  country  with  the  appliances  of  modern 
civilization.  I know  that  civilization  is  a thing  of  slow 
growth  ; but  changes  from  barbarism  to  enlightenment  are 
so  rapid  in  these  days  that  it  would  not  be  extravagant  to 
picture  a wonderful  growth  in  African  commerce  and  civili- 
zation if  easy  access  to  the  interior  lands  wrere  made  by 
means  of  wagon  and  rail  roads  and  boat  facilities.  The  ob- 

* Dispatch,  No.  273,  of  the  Legation  of  the  United  States,  dated  Monrovia, 
Liberia,  Sept.  3d,  1877. 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC. 


35 


stacles  arising  out  of  the  blighting  malarial  swamps  of  the 
African  coast  may  be  overcome,  as  in  other  countries,  by 
the  investment  of  capital,  and  by  drainage  and  sewerage. 


HE  Americo-African  Republic  is  not  alone  in  its 


struggles  against  a swampy  coast-belt.  Holland’s 
coast  lands  have  always  been  hot-beds  of  malarial  diseases, 
of  fever  and  death.  I learned  in  the  land  of  the  Dutch 
that  an  army  officer,  when  transferred  from  Amsterdam 
to  Rotterdam,  on  the  coast,  suffers  from  malarial  fever 
Any  traveller  who  makes  observations  on  the  low,  marshy 
coasts  of  Holland,  goes  away  fully  impressed  with  the 
belief  that  they  must  be  the  home  of  diseases  and  period- 
ical fevers.  The  excessive  mortality  among  English  armies 
in  the  Netherlands  is  not  to  be  wondered  at.  That  they 
died  like  sheep  was  perfectly  natural.* 

The  sea-coast  of  the  Southern  States  of  the  United 
States  was  exceedingly  malarial ; until,  at  the  inhabited 
points,  engineering,  drainage,  and  general  sanitary  appli 
ances  counteracted  or  destroyed  the  effect  of  the  deadly 
poison.  From  Virginia  to  Florida  thousands  of  the  pio- 
neer settlers  fell  victims  to  the  malaria  of  the  American 
coast ; but  they  pushed  back  into  the  country ; and  wher- 
ever they  built  cities,  they  brought  capital  to  their  rescue 


CHAPTER  VII 


CLIMATE— MALARIA  DETHRONED. 


* See  Sir  John  Pringle’s  Observations. 


36 


LIBERIA: 


in  counteracting  the  poison  arising  from  the  low,  flat 
lands  upon  which  they  built.  There  is  a parallel  between 
the  Settlement  of  Delaware  and  African  colonization. 

My  native  city,  Charleston,  S.  C.,  is  fifty  per  cent, 
healthier  than  it  was  a half  century  ago.  Money  and 
science  have  dethroned  malaria.  So  will  it  be  on  the 
West  Coast  of  Africa.  Interior  cities  of  commercial  ac- 
tivity, a farming  country  of  systematic  industry  will  come 
into  existence  in  response  to  the  influence  of  our  Christian 
civilization ; and  then  the  cities  on  the  coast,  through 
which  there  must  be  ingress  and  egress  both  of  popula- 
tion and  commodities,  will  be  able  to  command  capital  to 
at  least  moderate  the  malarial  effects  of  the  swampy  sur- 
roundings. 

f-t  is  somewhat  healthier  now  at  points  on  the  African 
coast  than  it  was  fifty  years  ago.  At  Freetown,  the  capi- 
tal of  Sierra  Leone,  and  at  Monrovia,  the  capital  of  Li- 
beria, the  stranger  talks  of  the  blessings  of  health,  when 
he  hears  the  sickening  accounts  of  the  mortality  of  the 
last  generation.  The  unhealthiness  of  the  Congo  will  be 
greatly  modified  as  capital  and  the  appliances  of  modern 
civilization  enter  the  countiy. 

But  while  all  this  is  true,  I have  no  patience  with  those 
who  underrate  the  effect  of  the  climate  of  the  West  Coast 
of  Africa  upon  colonizers  from  America  or  Europe.  It 
is  a crime  to  conceal  from  a man  who  turns  his  face  to 
Africa,  the  fact  that  those  swamps  and  marshes  will 
prove  an  annoying,  a trying,  perhaps  a fatal  enemy ; that  in 
his  battle  for  life  and  struggle  for  bread,  malaria  will  pos- 
sibly cripple  him  by  robbing  him  of  energy  and  spirit.  Let 
him  know  this,  so  that  forewarned,  he  may  be  forearmed. 

I have  not  looked  favorably  on  schemes  to  colonize  any 
part  of  Africa  with  the  poor  and  the  comparatively  igno- 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC. 


37 


rant  masses  of  Europe  or  America.  What  can  men,  with- 
out means,  without  any  knowledge  of  practical  hygiene  or 
of  sanitary  requirements,  do  in  the  presence  of  malaria,  in- 
trenched as  it  is  in  the  swamps  of  the  African  coast? 
If,  in  addition  to  this,  they  emigrate  with  the  idea  of  having 
an  easy  time,  of  finding  bread  growing  on  trees,  of  gathering 
where  they  do  not  sow,  as  the  masses  of  colonizers  too  often 
do,  they  must  fail  in  their  hopes  and  expectations  ; for  the 
malarial  atmosphere  will  unfit  them  for  the  struggle  which 
awaits  every  one  who  goes  to  a new  country ; and  their 
poverty  and  inexperience  and  physical  indisposition  will 
keep  them  in  helplessness  amidst  their  swampy  surround- 
ings. 

Let  hardy,  energetic,  and  determined  people,  especially 
those  of  African  blood,  go  from  the  American  States  or  the 
British  colonies  fully  informed  as  to  the  conditions  of  life 
in  Africa ; let  capital  be  judiciously  invested,  first  in  sub- 
jecting the  malarial  swamps  at  chosen  points  to  sanitary 
and  hygienic  appliances ; and,  secondly,  to  the  opening  of 
roads  and  the  planting  of  interior  settlements ; and  the 
whole  world  would  profit  in  the  rapid  increase  of  com- 
merce, and  the  steady  advancement  of  civilization,  and 
the  gradual  spread  of  Christianity. 

There  must,  of  course,  be  seaport  towns  and  cities.  But 
in  the  development  of  West  African  interests,  on  the 
Congo,  on  the  Niger,  in  Liberia,  the  interior  people  and 
settlements  will  be  the  backbone  of  the  country.  The 
mountaineers  of  every  land  are  noted  for  their  sterling 
qualities.  The  atmosphere  of  the  country  and  of  the  high- 
lands makes  a stalwart  manhood. 

Fifteen  miles  back  from  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  I stood  on 
a range  of  hills  in  Liberia,  and  looked  down  upon  the 
waters  of  the  sea.  The  people  of  this  locality,  on  the  St. 


38 


LIBERIA. 


Paul’s  River,  are  healthier  than  the  Monrovians,  whose 
home  is  on  the  coast.  I went  still  further  back,  and  found 
it  growing  healthier  as  I journeyed  toward  the  interior. 

At  Arthington,  the  most  flourishing  settlement  in  Li- 
beria, only  thirty  miles  from  the  coast,  I found  myself 
in  an  exceedingly  hilly  country,  with  a somewhat  salu- 
brious climate,  and  a hardy  people  living  in  comparative 
comfort.  The  children  were  not  delicate,  and  puny,  and 
full  of  sores  as  those  on  the  coast ; but  they  were  fleshy, 
chubby,  and  full  of  life.  One  pities  most  of  the  Americo- 
African  coast  children.  He  feels  like  romping  on  the  grass 
with  those  of  a place  like  Arthington.  Almost  everything 
calls  forth  the  stranger’s  wonder  and  admiration.  What 
strikes  him  as  the  most  hopeful  and  encouraging  sign  is 
the  fact  that  thousands  of  acres  are  already  under  cultiva- 
tion, and  there  is  a small  increase  steadily  going  on  in  the 
quantity  of  land  which  is  planted. 

It  is  work  done  back  from  the  coast,  or  which  leads  civ- 
ilizing influences  into  the  interior,  that  will  do  for  Africa 
what  commerce,  philanthropy,  and  Christianity  wish  to 
perform.  Good  roads  with  substantial  bridges  must  be 
constructed,  and  communication  opened  up  between  the 
people  of  the  African  mountains  and  their  fellow-country- 
men on  the  coast,  who  are  in  direct  contact  with  the  civil- 
ized world.  And  who  would  dare  to  foretell  the  results 
of  such  a course?  Who  can  foresee  the  effect  upon  the 
hardy,  progressive  natives  whose  habitat  is  beyond  the 
malarious  belt  of  the  deadly  coast  climate?  And  would 
not  the  colored  Americans  grasp  the  opportunities  that 
such  contact  with  Africa  would  produce  ? Who  can  tell 
what  a mighty  commerce  and  what  a powerful  civilization 
would  grow  up  where  such  deep  and  broad  foundations 
already  exist?  For  we  are  told  that  many  of  the  interior 


MONROVIA,  THE  CAPITAL  OF  LIBERIA. 


40 


LIBERIA  : 


natives  are  practicing  some  of  the  most  important  indus- 
tries of  life,  maintaining  schools,  and  living  in  comparative 
comfort  and  peace.  Both  Mungo  Park  and  Barth  record 
in  their  explorations  the  fact  that  in  the  heart  of  Africa 
they  found  well-cultivated  fields,  weaving,  dyeing,  smithing, 
markets,  and  armies.  Mungo  Park  said  of  Sego,  the  cap- 
ital of  Bambara : “ The  view  of  this  extensive  city,  the 
numerous  canoes  upon  the  river,  the  crowded  population, 
and  the  cultivated  state  of  the  surrounding  country,  formed 
altogether  a prospect  of  civilization  and  magnificence  which 
I little  expected  to  find  in  the  bosom  of  Africa.”* 

Let  capital  and  science  counteract  malaria  on  the  coast 
and  turn  the  stream  of  civilization  towards  the  interior, 
and  mighty  results  will  follow  all  worthy  efforts  to  develop 
the  country,  and  to  civilize  the  people. 


HE  African  coast  climate  is  spoken  of  as  unhealthy 


by  many  people  who  do  not  know  what  special 
form  of  complaint  manifests  itself  there.  Europeans  and 
Americans  suffer  from  malarial  troubles,  fever  and  ague. 
It  is  simply  this,  and  nothing  more,  that  afflicts  the  emi- 
grants to  Africa,  and  even  the  natives  who  inhabit  the 
coast-belt.  The  disorders  and  symptoms  may  be  greater 
in  Liberia  and  Congo  than  in  New  Orleans  or  Arkansas; 
but  it  is  a matter  of  degree,  not  of  kind. 

On  the  West  Coast  this  malarial  complaint  is  called 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


CLIMATE — AFRICAN  FEVER. 


* Travels,  Chap.  II. 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC. 


41 


“African  fever.”  It  is  no  respecter  of  persons.  It  at- 
tacks everybody.  The  greatest  explorers,  the  wealthiest 
merchants,  and  the  most  devoted  missionaries  have  suc- 
cumbed to  its  ravages.  Sometimes  it  attacks  a new-comer 
on  his  arrival.  Then  there  are  people  who  go  to  Africa 
and  live  for  months  without  any  symptoms  of  fever;  but 
it  never  fails  to  lay  siege  to  the  unacclimated  system. 

The  nature  of  the  attack  depends  upon  circumstances. 
The  constitution  and  physical  condition,  the  quality  of 
the  food  and  the  state  of  the  mind,  all  enter  into  the  pro- 
cess of  acclimation.  If  a person  goes  to  the  West  Coast 
with  a good  constitution  in  healthy  condition,  free  from 
hereditary  or  acquired  weaknesses  or  diseases  ; if  he  can 
get  there  wholesome  food  to  eat,  not  depending  wholly 
upon  the  diet  of  the  country ; if  he  is  so  circumstanced  as 
to  be  free  from  special  mental  burdens  or  anxieties,  being 
contented,  cheerful,  and  happy,  he  may  have  no  fear  of 
the  African  fever.  He  will  easily  acclimate.  But  if  these 
conditions  be  reversed,  then  the  person  either  dies  a vic- 
tim of  fever,  as  hundreds  before  him,  or  he  loses  his  vigor 
and  spirit,  and  sits  croakingly  asking, 

“And  must  I thus  forever  live, 

At  this  poor  dying  rate  ? ” 

as  thousands  are  now  doing  upon  the  West  Coast  of 
Africa. 

The  struggle  with  the  fever  is  not  so  much  after  all 
against  death  as  against  laziness — not  so  much  for  life  as 
for  energy.  In  my  diary  I find  this  entry,  made  in  Africa : 
“I  am  beginning  to  feel  lazy.  Is  this  acclimating?  I 
have  a disposition  to  sit  down  ! Alas  ! alas  ! my  poor 
energy,  is  it  falling  a prey  to  this  poisonous  atmosphere?” 

It  would  not  profit  the  reader  to  have  the  symptoms  of 
African  fever  described.  I should  not,  however,  omit  from 


42 


LIBERIA  : 


this  chapter  a few  statements  of  a general  therapeutical  na- 
ture. Colonizers,  merchants,  political  officials,  teachers,  and 
missionaries  will  go,  in  even  greater  numbers  in  the  future 
than  in  the  past,  to  meet  and  struggle  with  African  fever. 
They  should  go  to  the  West  Coast,  not  only  with  the 
purpose  of  keeping  their  health,  but  also  with  a general 
idea  of  the  course  of  treatment  that  they  should  pursue. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  keep  the 
bowels  open.  The  climate  has  a tendency  to  produce  re- 
laxation, and  too  much  care  can  not  be  exercised.  Tamar 
Indien,  Eno’s  Fruit  Salt,  and  castor  oil  are  most  excel- 
lent laxatives.  For  torpidity-of  the  liver,  which  manifests 
itself  in  loss  of  appetite,  a coated  tongue,  and  heavy,  yel- 
lowish eyes,  the  usual  remedies  are  podophillyn  powders 
or  "pills,  or  compound  cathartic  pills,  taken  overnight,  and 
followed  next  morning  by  a seidlitz-powder,  if  necessary. 

Certain  symptoms  precede  fever.  The  person  to  be  at- 
tacked loses  his  appetite  ; his  skin  gets  dry,  and  he  feels 
somewhat  chilly.  I look  upon  medicine  as  a necessary 
evil.  It  should  be  avoided  as  much  as  possible.  Hence, 
my  first  effort  to  throw  off  African  fever  took  the  form  of 
a brisk  walk,  or  vigorous  exercise  with  the  axe.  Some- 
times this  brings  on  perspiration  and  affords  much  relief. 
But  if  this  natural  course  of  treatment  should  fail,  the  pa- 
tient should  drink  a hot  tea  of  lemon  or  lime,  or  of  the 
leaves  of  what  is  called  “ the  fever  bush  then  either  get 
into  bed,  or,  what  is  much  better,  wrap  up  in  shawl  or 
blanket,  and  throw  himself  on  the  sofa  and  “ sweat  it  out.” 

This  fever  would  be  a simple  ailment,  were  it  not  for  the 
fact  that  malaria  lingers  in  the  system.  It  fastens  itself 
upon  the  vitals  and  sticks  closer  than  a brother.  Hence 
quinine,  in  some  form,  is  an  indispensable  remedy.  Its 
effects,  however,  are  often  very  injurious.  It  cures,  but 


THE  A.MERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC. 


43 


it  also  blights.  It  affects  the  hearing  and  the  sight,  and  is 
harmful  in  many  other  respects.  I used  a medicine  called 
Paschall’s  Fever  and  Ague  Mixture,*  which  can  not  be  too 
highly  recommended.  Quinine  is  undoubtedly  an  ingre- 
dient ; but  it  is  in  such  a proportion  to  other  ingredients 
that  one  escapes  the  injurious  effects  experienced  from 
taking  quinine  alone.  It  answers  all  the  purposes  of  quinine 
pills,  and,  for  the  reason  given,  is  infinitely  better. 

The  fever  leaves  the  patient  in  a feeble  condition.  Often 
the  stomach  and  digestive  organs  fail  to  properly  perform 
their  work.  I found  that  seltzer  water,  and  such  liquids  as 
extract  of  beef,  were  very  helpful  to  a debilitated  stomach, 
and  pepsin  very  stimulating  to  the  digestive  organs. 
Spirituous  liquors  are  positively  injurious.  They  have 
wrecked  more  lives  on  the  coast  than  African  fever ; and 
they  have  been  the  devil’s  special  agent  in  the  destruction 
of  character. 

I have  now  set  forth  fairly  and  squarely  my  impressions 
of  the  climate  of  the  West  Coast.  It  is  not  healthy  ; yet  it 
is  not  deadly.  It  is  severely  trying  to  the  system  of  the 
foreigner ; but  the  man  of  African  blood,  although  not  a 
native  of  the  Coast,  stands  the  climate  better  than  either 
a Caucasian  or  a Mongolian.  A Negro-American  will 
thrive  where  the  European  can  hardly  live. 

Europeans,  who  do  business  on  the  Coast,  at  the  Gambia, 
Sierra  Leone,  Liberia,  Lagos,  Congo,  contract  to  remain 
at  their  posts  only  from  two  to  three  years  of  continuous 
service.  When  they  leave  to  recruit  in  their  own  habitat , 
their  faces  are  yellow  and  bloodless,  their  eyes  sunken  and 
glassy,  and  their  bodies  thin  and  emaciated.  One  sees  on 
the  steamers  bound  from  the  West  Coast  to  Europe  a 
cadaverous-looking  set  of  white  men,  who  never  fail  to  call 


* Sold  by  Edward  S.  Morris,  4 South  Merrick  Street,  Philadelphia. 


44 


LIBERIA  : 


forth  hearty  commiseration.  Some  of  them  have  to  be 
carried  aboard  the  vessels  on  stretchers  ; and  they  begin  to 
recuperate  as  soon  as  they  breathe  the  pure  air  of  the  sea 
for  a few  days. 

If  white  men  could  thrive  on  the  West  Coast,  they  would 
flock  to  it  as  they  have  done  to  South  Africa,  and  assert 
their  “ divine  right  to  rule  ” the  land  and  subjugate  the 
aboriginal  population  to  their  proud  sway,  as  the  Cauca- 
sians invariably  do  wherever  they  are  able  to  congregate  in 
large  numbers.  Their  arrogance  and  intolerance  and  pride, 
begotten  of  their  leadership  in  the  march  of  civilization, 
are  seen  in  their  unjust  contact  with  China  and  their  out- 
rageous course  in  India.  In  North  and  South  Africa  they 
hold  sway  ; but  God  reserves  Tropical  Africa  for  the  Negro 
race.  He  has  stationed  climate  there  as  a gloomy,  watch- 
ful sentinel,  with  special  orders  against  white  men. 
Hence  all  their  efforts  of  centuries  to  penetrate  the  coun- 
try have  resulted  in  disastrous  failures;  and  throughout 
the  lands  they  inhabit  the  cry  has  gone,  “ It  is  a deadly 
climate  ; the  white  man’s  grave.” 

I stopped,  in  1884,  at  Freetown,  Sierra  Leone.  The 
Queen’s  Advocate,  a white  man,  was  acting  for  both  the 
Governor  and  the  Chief-Justice,  who  were  white  men. 
I asked  after  thejn,  and  I was  told  that  they  had  gone  to 
the  island  of  Madeira  to  recuperate.  The  climate  was 
telling  upon  their  systems.  This  is  an  illustration  of  what 
Mr.  Spurgeon  said  about  the  deadly  effect  of  the  African 
climate  upon  the  English  Governors  of  Sierra  Leone. 
They  either  die,  or  they  retire  to  other  climes,  and  thus 
get  a new  lease  on  life.  On  the  return  of  the  Governor  and 
the  Chief-Justice,  the  Queen’s  Advocate  doubtless  went  off 
for  his  health. 

I know  that  many  who  read  these  pages  will  differ  from 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC. 


45 


my  opinion,  that  a foreign  Negro  stands  this  trying  Afri- 
can climate  better  than  the  Caucasian ; but  the  thought- 
ful reader  will  readily  see  that  there  is  more  affinity  in  the 
blood  of  a pure  Negro,  although  foreign  born,  for  the 
African  habitat , from  which  his  ancestors  came,  than  in  a 
man  who  has  had  no  connection  direct  or  remote  with 
Africa.  Believing  as  I do,  even  without  the  gift  of  proph- 
ecy, I can  see  Ethiopia  standing  among  the  nations  of 
the  future,  rejoicing  in  the  triumphs  of  pure-blooded  Ethi- 
opians, who  shall,  in  Tropical  Africa,  work  out  their  great 
destiny,  and  prove  equal  to  their  illustrious  ancestors,  who 
“ led  the  way,  and  acted  as  the  pioneers  of  mankind  in  the 
various  untrodden  fields  of  art,  literature,  and  science.”  * 


CHAPTER  IX. 

RESOURCES — NATURAL  AND  CULTIVATED  PRODUCTS— A 
GROWING  COMMERCE. 

STANLEY  is  criticised  and  denounced  as  an  enthu- 
siast and  an  optimist,  because  he  gives  such  glowing 
accounts  of  the  vast  resources  of  the  Congo ; but  he  does 
not  exaggerate  in  the  least.  The  rapidly  increasing  African 
trade  proves  conclusively  that  there  must  be 'something 
in  the  Dark  Continent  after  which  to  send  the  great  ships 
of  commerce  from  European  and  American  ports. 

Rich  and  varied  are  the  resources  of  the  Americo-Afri- 
can  Republic.  The  soil  contains  gold,  silver,  and  iron  in 
great  abundance.  The  iron  ore  is  said  to  yield  sixty  per 
cent.;  and  it  is  found  near  the  surface.  The  natives  use 


* Rawlinson’s  “Five  Great  Monarchies,”  Vol.  I.,  p.  75. 


46 


LIBERIA  : 


gold  and  iron  in  certain  crude  manufactures ; and  they  do 
not  mine  for  these  metals.  English  capitalists  are  digging 
gold  at  Axim,  south  of  Liberia ; and  a superintendent  of 
these  mines,  on  his  return  to  the  coast  from  Scotland,  told 
me  that  the  same  rich  vein  which  he  had  struck  at  Axim 
certainly  passes  through  Liberia.  There  can  be  no  ques- 
tion about  this.  President  Johnson,  now  in  office,  January, 
1886,  in  denouncing  a loan  which  a previous  administra- 
tion made  in  England,  said,  “ I had  heard  whispers  of  a 

foreign  loan I besought  you  to  go  to  the  mines  of 

Beulay  and  Medina,  if  you  wanted  gold,  and  not  sell  your 
country  for  British  gold.”  * Capital,  however,  is  needed  to 
utilize  these  precious  metals  that  lie  in  the  bowels  of  the 
African  Continent ; and  capital  has  been  slow  in  finding 
its  way  to  the  West  Coast,  and  especially  to  the  Negro 
Republic. 

The  resources  of  the  forests  are  inexhaustible  ; and  they 
are  within  the  reach  of  simple  industry.  Neither  skilled 
labor  nor  capital  is  necessary  to  secure  many  of  them. 
Palm-trees  are  found  in  great  abundance,  and  they  yield 
annually  an  enormous  quantity  of  nuts  and  oil.  Cam- 
wood and  rubber-trees  also  abound,  and  are  very  valuable 
as  articles  of  export.  Millions  of  dollars  go  annually  out 
of  Europe  and  America  to  the  West  Coast ; thousands  go 
to  Liberia,  to  purchase  palm  oil,  palm  nuts,  camwood, 
and  rubber.  To  these  should  be  added  ivory,  which  is 
one  of  the  most  valuable  articles  of  trade,  and  which  lies 
around  in  parts  of  the  interior  like  common  rocks. 

But  with  these  exceptions  the  forests  of  Liberia  are  un- 
touched. They  contain  different  varieties  of  valuable 
timber,  suitable  for  almost  any  purpose.  Growing  almost 
everywhere  are  mahogany,  oak,  hickory,  poplar,  rose- 


* Oration  at  Monrovia,  July  26,  ’82. 


THE  AMERICC-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC. 


47 


wood,  mulberry,  and  other  valuable  trees  which  could  be 
secured  easily  and  at  little  cost,  for  timber,  furniture,  and 
decorative  work. 

Then  there  is  a great  variety  of  fruit  trees.  Oranges, 
limes,  guavas,  plantains,  pine-apples,  plums,  cocoanuts, 
bananas,  pawpaws,  rose-apples,  sour  sops,  and  others  grow 
everywhere,  and  are  remarkable  for  their  delicious  flavor. 
They  may  be  seen  in  the  streets,  in  the  woods,  on  all 
sides.  An  independent  fortune  could  be  made  by  pre- 
serving and  exporting  these  fruits.  A captain  running  to 
the  Liberian  coast  told  me  that  he  could  easily  sell  all  the 
guava  preserves  that  the  Republic  could  furnish. 

I am  sure  I do  not  exaggerate  when  I say  that  the 
Americo-African  Republic  has  within  its  territory,  and  ly- 
ing back  of  it,  regions  of  immense  value  that  centuries 
of  development  could  not  exhaust.  Commodore  R.  W. 
Shufeldt,  a retired  officer  of  the  United  States  Navy, 
has  had  considerable  experience  in  observation  and  ex- 
ploration on  the  West  Coast  and  in  Liberia.  In  a letter 
to  Dr.  G.  W.  Samson  under  date  of  September  21,  ’85,  he 
says : “ In  fact  Liberia  lies  in  front  of  the  most  fertile  and 
most  densely  populated  portions  of  the  continent.” 

The  soil  of  Liberia  is  very  rich.  It  may  be  cultivated 
with  a stick.  If  it  is  simply  scratched  and  the  seed 
dropped  in,  there  is  an  abundant  harvest. 

Most  of  the  vegetables  may  be  raised,  such  as  Guinea 
corn,  sweet  potatoes,  beans,  tomatoes,  okra,  watermelons, 
cabbages,  and  turnips.  The  natives  cultivate  a vegetable 
somewhat  like  the  American  sweet  potato,  which  they  call 
eddoes,  and  another  like  the  turnip,  which  they  call  cas- 
savas. I have  seen  all  of  these  vegetables  grown,  and 
have  cultivated  many  of  them  myself. 

The  Americo-Africans  raise  and  export  principally  cof- 


48 


LIBERIA : 


fee  and  sugar.  There  is  no  reason  why  they  should  not 
add  to  these  articles  ginger,  pepper,  ground-nuts,  indigo, 
arrowroot,  and  cotton.  Everywhere,  in  a wild  state,  cot- 
ton is  found  ; and  it  is  of  excellent  fibre.  Of  course  it  is 
short,  but  cultivation  would  doubtless  make  it  equal  to 
the  best  staple  in  the  world.  Enterprise  and  industry, 
backed  by  a little  capital,  could  accomplish  great  results 
where  Nature  is  so  lavish  of  her  gifts  of  forests,  soil,  and 
field  ; for  there  is  a limitless  growth  of  plants,  out  of  which 
the  most  valuable  and  useful  medicines  could  be  made. 

The  coffee  of  Liberia  is  the  -best  in  the  world.  It  is  in- 
digenous ; it  grows  wild  everywhere.  Hull,  in  his  excel- 
lent book  on  Coffee  Culture,  gives  the  Liberian  coffee  the 
very  first  place.  It  is  superior  to  Java  or  Mocha,  both  in 
the  size  of  the  berry  and  the  deliciousness  of  the  flavor. 
Ship-loads  of  scions  have  been  exported  to  Brazil ; and 
much  of  the  superior  American  coffee  is  the  product  of 
the  African  scion.  I have  been  told  both  in  Europe  and 
America  that  there  could  be  created  a special  and  wide 
demand  for  Liberian  coffee,  if  it  could  be  secured  in  such 
quantities  as  to  justify  efforts  to  create  a market.  Mr.  C. 
T.  Geyer,  an  enterprising  New  York  merchant,  who  has 
visited  the  West  Coast  of  Africa  and  the  coffee  farms  of 
Liberia,  writes  me  under  date  of  December  16,  1885  : 

“ I am  pleased  to  make  the  following  comments  on 
Liberian  coffee,  having  imported  and  dealt  in  it  for  many 
years.  The  berry  is  acknowledged  by  the  trade  to  be  the 
handsomest  in  the  market ; and  it  makes  the  strongest 
coffee.  Those  who  have  used  it  and  acquired  a taste  for 
it  will  have  no  other.  One  great  drawback  to  its  increased 
use  has  been  the  limited  quantity  of  it  that  has  been  raised. 
Within  a few  years  coffee  grown  in  the  island  of  Ceylon 
from  plants  obtained  in  Liberia,  has  been  upon  the  market 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC. 


49 


as  Liberian.  I believe  the  best  article  of  commerce  Liberi- 
ans can  raise  is  coffee.  It  took  the  first  medal  at  the  Cen- 
tennial Exhibition,  in  1876;  and  it  is  universally  regarded 
as  the  best  coffee  raised  anywhere  in  the  world.” 

Mr.  Edward  S.  Morris,  of  Philadelphia,  who  lived  for  a 
time  in  Liberia;  who  has  done  much  in  promoting  the 
culture  of  coffee  there  ; and  who,  since  1856,  has  been  sell- 
ing it  in  the  United  States,  is  the  inventor  of  a machine 
for  hulling  and  cleaning  the  Liberian  coffee.  The  berry  is 
so  large  and  hard  that  the  mills  used  in  other  countries  do 
not  meet  the  requirements.  Whenever  foreign  capital  is 
turned  toward  the  West  Coast  for  investment,  coffee  cul- 
ture will  be  one  of  the  industries  that  will  be  safe  and 
highly  remunerative. 

What  a rich  field  for  commercial  enterprise  the  Americo- 
African  Republic  presents,  with  its  vast  resources  of  soil 
and  woods,  and  the  richest  region  of  Africa  lying  back  of 
it ! The  time  certainly  must  come  when  the  people  of  the 
United  States  will  interest  themselves  in  some  special  way 
in  the  growth  and  perpetuity  of  their  first  and  only  quasi 
colonial  enterprise,  and  in  the  enlargement  of  its  commerce. 
The  mills  of  New  England  will  send  their  manufactures, 
and  the  South  and  the  West  will  send  certain  of  their 
wares  to  Liberia,  and  bring  back  in  their  ships  of  com- 
merce the  gold,  the  ivory,  and  the  coffee  of  this  favored 
land. 

Europeans  are  pushing  their  enterprises  into  the  Amer- 
ico-African  Republic  with  all  their  might.  The  Germans, 
Dutch,  and  Belgians  have  stores,  called  “ factories,”  at 
every  port ; and  their  business  seems  to  be  increasing 
yearly.  English  steamers  stop  at  most  of  the  Liberian 
ports  to  deliver  cargo,  and  to  take  away  the  produce  and 
natural  treasures  of  the  fields  and  forests.  The  French 


3 


50 


LIBERIA  : 


have  just  begun  to  send  steamers  to  Liberian  ports.  Peti- 
tion was  made  by  the  French  to  the  National  Legislature 
(1884)  for  rights  and  privileges  in  common  with  other 
foreigners  ; and  it  was  readily  and  gladly  granted.  There 
are  no  American  business  houses  on  the  Liberian  coast, 
except  a very  small  one  at  Cape  Palmas ; but  three  firms 
send  their  vessels  to  these  “ ports  of  entry,”  and  trade 
from  the  harbors.  They  are  great  movable  stores  or  “ fac- 
tories,” floating  on  the  water.  They  bring  everything ; 
the  necessaries,  the  luxuries,  and  “ the  destructives  food, 
raiment,  delicacies,  and  wines,  liquors,  and  segars.  Yates 
& Porterfield,  and  Carlton  & Moffat,  of  New  York,  and 
R.  Lewis  & Co.,  of  Portland,  Maine,  send  their  vessels  to 
the  Liberian  coast.  The  first-named  firm  has  been  doing 
for  years  a very  large  business,  and  are  said  to  have  grown 
wealthy  out  of  the  profits  of  the  trade. 

Every  decade  white  men  retire  from  the  West  Coast 
trade  rich  enough  to  live  comfortably  at  home  in  Europe 
on  their  income.  But  they  went  into  business  on  the  coast 
with  large  capital  behind  them,  usually  representing  com- 
panies with  millions  of  dollars  invested  in  ships,  machin- 
ery, etc.  The  Liberian  merchant  plods  on  year  after  year, 
unable  to  enlarge  his  business  because  he  does  not  have 
the  capital.  The  foreigner  adds  thousands  of  dollars  an- 
nually to  his  enterprises,  puts  his  own  vessel  in  the  trade, 
and  increases  the  number  yearly ; and  as  a natural  result 
he  grows  independent  in  a lew  years,  brings  out  a successor 
from  Germany,  England,  France,  or  Holland,  and  retires 
to  live  at  ease  with  “ the  dear  ones  all  at  home.”  But  such 
is  life.  It  is  true,  as  Benjamin  Franklin  said,  “To  make 
money,  one  must  have  money.” 

P'oreigners,  finding  that  they  “strike  oil”  in  the  Libe- 
rian trade,  are  quietly  pushing  to  have  their  privileges  en- 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC. 


51 


larged.  To  them  may  be  attributed  the  movement  “to 
open  the  constitution,”  as  it  is  called.  They  want  two 
things  granted  them,  for  which  they  openly  agitate.  First, 
the  right  to  lease  land  for  a term  of  at  least  one  hundred 
years ; and,  secondly,  the  right  to  establish  trading  posts 
up  the  rivers  and  in  the  interior,  from  which  they  are  now 
excluded.  The  privileges  of  citizenship,  and  the  right  to 
vote  and  hold  office,  they  are  secretly  working  for. 

The  National  Legislature  (1884)  opened  three  new 
ports  of  entry — San  Pedro,  Manna,  and  Niffou.  Foreigners 
have  the  right  to  trade  at  them.  Pushing  and  persistent 
as  are  the  Europeans  and  white  Americans,  my  impression 
is  that  their  getting  into  the  interior  and  up  the  rivers 
with  their  rum,  tobacco,  cloth,  salt,  and  brass  kettles, 
is  only  a question  of  time.  It  will  certainly  be  the 
means  of  developing  the  interior  trade  of  Liberia  which 
is  not  yet  touched.  In  the  harbor  of  Freetown,  Sierra 
Leone,  one  sees  life,  activity,  bustle.  I saw  the  harbor 
white  with  the  sails  of  commerce — steamers,  brigs,  barks, 
schooners,  sloops,  native  trading  cutters,  and  row-boats, 
scores  of  them  taken  all  together.  Looking  at  them,  I 
involuntarily  exclaimed  : “ This  is  business ! ” 

I may  here  presume  that  the  reader  asks  a natural  ques- 
tion : Are  the  Americo-Africans  (the  colored  people  of 
American  birth  or  descent)  profiting  from  the  wealth  of 
their  country,  and  growing  rich  ? Although  I have  not 
come  to  write  about  the  people  yet,  I pause  here  to  an- 
swer this  pertinent  inquiry  with  an  emphatic  No  ! The 
Americo-Africans  would  profit  from  the  natural  wealth 
of  their  country  if  they  themselves  had  money  to  develop 
it,  or  could  induce  foreigners  to  invest  their  capital  more 
largely  than  they  do. 

Emigrants  from  Europe  to  America,  in  its  early  history, 


52 


LIBERIA  : 


either  brought  money  with  them,  or  they  had  influence 
enough  at  home  to  draw  capital  after  them.  Even  now  Amer- 
ican bonds  and  stocks  are  prominent  on  the  English  finan- 
cial exchanges,  and  British  capital  has  done  much,  and  it 
is  still  doing  a great  deal,  for  the  internal  development 
of  the  United  States — sustaining  railroads,  constructing 
bridges,  conducting  manufactories,  and  mining  enterprises. 
A country  may  be  ever  so  rich  in  its  natural  resources, 
but  capital  is  required  to  make  these  resources  available. 
What  good  would  the  gold  discovered  in  California  have 
done  to  business  industries  had  not  Eastern  capital  gone 
West,  bored  rocks,  sunk  shafts,  erected  machinery,  dug 
up  the  precious  metal,  and  then  prepared  it  for  circula- 
tion? There  is  money  in  a wholesale  and  retail  tobacco 
house  ; but  suppose  some  enterprising  colored  Americans 
should  start  this  business,  what  would  be  the  result  ? 
After  we  have  built  our  establishment,  stocked  it,  and 
secured  our  trading  cutters,  the  white  merchants  and  ship- 
owners who  would  bring  us  our  tobacco,  and  who  sell  it 
themselves  on  the  coast,  would  not  consent  to  be  driven 
out  of  the  trade — no,  not  even  to  share  it  with  us ! They 
would  run  our. freight  up  so  high  that  our  profits  would  be 
reduced  to  nothing.  Indeed,  it  is  probable  that  we  should 
lose  money  by  the  venture  ! But  if  this  Negro  Company 
could  put  their  own  ships  upon  the  sea , then  they  would  be 
masters  of  the  situation  ! This  is  the  key  to  the  solution 
of  the  business  problem,  so  far  as  it  concerns  the  Liberians 
or  the  American  Negroes.  We  must  have  our  own  vessels 
upon  the  ocean  carrying  our  African  workers,  our  civili- 
zation, and  our  wares  to  the  “ Fatherland,”  and  bringing 
back  its  riches. 

Says  a high  commercial  authority : “ Outside  of  their 
colonies  the  principal  advantages  possessed  by  British  and 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC. 


53 


French  traders  in  Africa  are  their  magnificent  steamship 
lines,  and  their  long-established  resident  agencies  or  branch 
houses.”*  I am  glad  to  know  that  American  Negroes  are 
thinking  in  this  direction.  Making  this  reference  to  a 
New  York  audience  in  1882,  I was  cheered  to  the  echo; 
and  addressing  the  Hampton  Institute  Alumni  Associa- 
tion, in  May,  1884,  the  same  expression  was  most  heartily 
applauded. 

Our  references  have  been  mainly  to  Liberian  merchants. 
We  must  bear  in  mind  that  Liberia  is  an  exclusively  Negro 
government.  White  men,  therefore,  are  cautious  as  to 
making  investments.  Indeed,  there  is  very  little  foreign 
capital  in  business  in  Liberia.  Neither  Europeans  nor 
Americans  seem  to  have  sufficient  confidence  in  the  coun- 
try to  entrust  their  moneys  to  Liberians,  and  to  invest  it 
in  business  through  them.  It  is  different  at  Sierra  Leone 
and  Lagos,  which  are  English  possessions. 

There  are  many  Negroes  who  are  wealthy  merchants  in 
both  places.  On  my  way  to  Liberia,  there  was  on  our 
steamer  a Lagos  merchant,  a native  African,  returning 
from  England  with  his  family,  a wife  and  two  children. 
They  were  accompanied  by  a nurse  and  a valet.  They  had 
occupied  apartments  in  London  at  “the  West  End,”  the 
aristocratic  quarters.  He  had  on  board  $50,000  worth  of 
goods,  and  a small  steam  yacht  for  trade  on  the  Niger.  I 
was  told  that  the  trade  of  the  West  Coast  is  passing  slowly 
into  native  African  hands.  But  that  is  perfectly  natural. 
Europeans  can  not  stand  this  climate.  It  costs  more  to 
send  and  sustain  one  European  in  Western  Africa  than  to 
do  business  through  three  African  merchants.  Business 
men  are  eminently  practical ; they  do  that  which  pays. 
The  native  merchant  has  the  vantage  ground ; Africa  is 


* The  American  Mail  and  Export  Journal , March,  1883,  p.  115. 


54 


LIBERIA: 


the  Negro’s  country.  His  controlling  it  in  every  respect 
is  only  a question  of  time.  The  Romans  held  England  ; 
the  Normans  once  ruled  the  country ; but  in  the  fulness  of 
time  God  brought  those  to  the  front  to  whom  He  had 
given  the  land. 

God,  not  we,  “ divided  to  the  nations  their  inheritance,” 
and  “separated  the  sons  of  Adam.”*  The  Negro  has  for 
his  portion  Central-Tropical  Africa,  and  no  other  race  will 
supplant,  or  permanently  rule  him  on  that  soil.  But  in  the 
fulness  of  God’s  time,  kings  and  priests  and  merchants  of 
Ethiopia  shall  influence,  as  they  have  already  begun  to  do, 
the  destinies  of  other  countries  and  other  races. 


PEOPLE — THE  NATIVES — THEIR  CUSTOMS  AND  MANNERS. 


HE  people  of  the  Americo-African  Republic  are 


divided  into  two  classes:  (i).  The  Aborigines,  who 
are,  (a)  the  indigenous  tribes,  and  ( b ) the  slaves  recap- 
tured from  slave-ships  and  returned  to  Africa;  and  (2). 
The  colored  colonizers  from  the  United  States  and  the 
West  Indies,  and  their  descendants. 

The  Natives,  as  the  Aborigines  are  called,  numbering 
about  800,000  persons,  are  divided  into  tribes,  named 
Veys,  Mandingoes,  Kroos,  Golahs,  Greboes,  Pessehs, 
Bassas,  and  Deys.  They  differ  in  dialect,  as  do  the  people 
of  Great  Britain  even  to-day.  The  Welsh,  the  Scotch, 
and  the  English  are  different  and  distinct  dialects.  The 
general  appearance  of  the  tribes  is  alike,  except  the 


CHAPTER  X. 


* Deut.  xxxii.  8. 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC. 


55 


Mandingoes,  who  are  a tall  and  sinewy  race  of  men.  One 
can  always  distinguish  a Krooman.  He  is  the  sailor  of  the 
coast.  He  navigates  all  the  steamers  and  ships  that  do 
business  in  West  African  waters.  The  Krooman  was  never 
a slave ; he  was  too  useful  to  the  slave-trader  as  a sailor. 
In  order  to  prevent  the  exportation  of  a Krooman,  the 
tribe  adopted  as  a sign  a blue  band  down  the  forehead. 
Every  male  child  is  tattooed,  and  he  grows  up  with  that 
stamp  upon  his  face,  of  which  he  never  fails  to  be  proud. 


A NATIVE  TOWN. 

These  tribes  dwell  in  towns,  each  town  having  its  chief 
or  headman.  The  houses  are  neatly  constructed  of  bam- 
boo. Many  of  them  are  oblong.  The  Veys  live  in  conical- 
shaped dwellings,  with  a porch  in  which  they  usually  hang 
a hammock  of  their  own  manufacture.  The  houses  are 


56 


LIBERIA  : 


comparatively  neat,  and  the  African  wife  prides  herself  in 
keeping  her  home  tidy  and  in  order.  The  ground  serves 
as  the  floor,  but  they  frequently  spread  their  home-made 
mats  upon  it.  This  is  much  better  than  the  sleepy  people 
of  Madeira ; whose  floors  are  of  stone,  and  are  usually 
bare.  Some  of  these  African-made  mats  are  very  pretty. 
They  combine  different  colors  in  making  them.  They 
cover  the  dining-room  and  sitting-room  of  many  a well-to- 
do  Americo-African,  who  buys  them  from  the  skillful,  in- 
dustrious natives.  In  building  their  houses  they  use  no 
nails,  but  a rope  and  a cord  .of  their  own  make,  which  are 
as  strong  and  as  durable  as  anything  manufactured  in 
Europe  or  America. 

\Most  people  have  the  idea  that  the  Negro  at  home  is 
an  idle  being  who  sits  around  and  does  nothing.  They 
will  hardly  believe  that  they  have  their  smiths  who  work 
in  iron  and  gold,  their  weavers  of  cloth,  and  their  looms, 
their  dyers,  carpenters,  merchants,  teachers,  doctors,  and 
farmers  ; and  are  engaged  in  many  of  the  pursuits  common 
to  our  more  advanced  civilized  life.  This  is  true  of  many 
of  the  Liberian  tribes.  Among  some,  if  not  all  of  them, 
the  various  industries  of  life  are  pursued,  even  if  in  a 
feeble  way. 

The  food  of  the  natives  consists  of  rice,  cassava,  beef, 
mutton,  game,  fish,  palm  oil,  and  palm  butter;  and  their 
drink  is  water  and  palm  wine.  Every  native  family  looks  out 
for  something  to  eat.  One  of  the  difficulties  in  connection 
with  hired  labor  arises  from  this  fact.  The  native  man 
will  leave  your  work  to  make  his  rice  farm,  so  as  to  be 
sure  of  the  staff  of  life.  A month  before  the  rains,  in 
March  and  April,  he  clears  his  land.  At  the  first  sign  of 
the  beginning  of  the  rains  he  burns  the  brushwood  and 
weeds.  He  plants  after  the  first  rain.  The  soil  being  ex- 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC. 


57 


tremely  fertile,  the  seeds  spring  up  in  a few  days.  He 
then  makes  his  wives  and  children  watch  the  crop  till  it  is 
gathered.  And  they  have  to  be  very  attentive,  or  the 
rice-birds,  which  are  always  on  the  alert,  would  destroy  it  in 
a very  short  time.  In  four  months  the  crop  is  gathered. 
The  rice  is  cut  down  on  the  stalk.  The  stalks  are  put 
up  in  bundles ; and  these  are  taken  home  and  put  in  the 
top  of  the  houses.  They  keep  dry,  and  are  taken  down, 
beaten,  winnowed,  boiled,  and  eaten  as  needed.  It  is  a 
picturesque  sight  to  pass,  as  I have  often  done,  through 
a native  town  and  see  the  busy  housewife  get  the  rice 
ready  for  cooking.  One  sees  many  mortars,  and  hears  the 
music  of  the  descending  pestles  and  the  sweet  chatter  or 
laughter  of  “ the  blameless  Ethiopians.” 

The  native  wife  is  a very  good  housekeeper.  In  her 
dwelling  the  pans,  kettles,  and  basins  are  hung  around  the 
room  in  order.  When  she  puts  dinner  on  the  rudely  con- 
structed table,  she  never  sits  down,  but  in  your  presence 
tastes  a little  from  every  dish,  as  a sign  that  she  has  put 
nothing  in  it  to  hurt  you.  It  is  called,  “ Taking  the  witch 
off.” 

I saw  the  African  at  home  for  the  first  time  at  the  Isles 
de  Los ; an  island  on  the  West  Coast.  I was  struck  with 
their  intelligent  countenances  and  matchless  physical  de- 
velopment. Looking  from  the  deck  of  the  steamer  into 
a merchant  row-boat,  I saw  the  stalwart  fellows  gather 
around  what  appeared  to  be  a wash-basin  filled  with  rice 
and  palm  oil.  The  African  boatmen  stuck  their  hands  in, 
filled  them  with  rice,  squeezed  it  into  a ball,  then  in  the 
twinkling  of  an  eye  they  tossed  it  down  their  throats  ; and 
the  food  disappeared  without  chewing  ! I looked  on  with 
wide-open  eyes.  They  gulped  the  entire  dinner.  They 
boil  their  rice  very  soft  and  the  palm  oil  helps  it  to  pass 
3* 


58 


LIBERIA : 


through  the  organs  of  digestion.  Strange  to  say,  dys- 
pepsia is  unknown  among  the  natives.  Of  course  they 
chew  their  meats.  After  eating  they  invariably  wash  their 
hands,  mouth,  and  teeth. 

It  would  require  a volume  to  write  about  their  customs. 
Some  are  good,  many  are  bad,  and  some  are  ludicrous. 
Their  diversions  would  entertain  and  amuse.  I attended 
a play  by  natives  on  Vey  Island.  Its  effect  was  like  that 
of  a comic  tragedy — ridiculous  and  grand,  laughable  and 
exciting ! Instead  of  paying  money  to  see  the  perform- 
ance, I gave  them  tobacco  ; others  gave  cloth,  beads,  and 
caps.  One  thing  appears  to  be  true — “ When  the  sun 
goes  down,  all  Africa  dances.” 
vTwo  customs  are  interwoven  with  the  warp  and  woof 
of  their  social  system.  They  are  evils  which  can  not  be 
removed  except  by  slow  moral  processes.  We  refer  to 
polygamy  and  slavery.  The  former  evil,  however,  is  not 
as  wide-spread  as  one  would  suppose.  Passing  through 
Krootown  one  day,  and  seeing  a Krooman  building  a 
house,  I asked  him  how  many  wives  he  had.  “ Me  no  fit 
to  have  but  two.  Woman  he  be  cost  too  much  money,” 
was  the  reply.  And  thereby  hangs  a tale.  The  African 
woman  spends  her  money,  or  rather  her  husband’s,  just  as 
an  American  or  European  wife  does.  An  African  lady 
sees  her  neighbor  wearing  a new  pair  of  “ anklets,”  or 
necklace,  or  bracelets.  She  must  have  a new  set  too  ; and 
she  taunts  her  husband  with  his  poverty  if  he  does  not 
respond  to  her  appeals.  Well,  the  African  husband  finds 
it  uncomfortable  to  have  a half  dozen  women  begging  or 
taunting  him  at  the  same  time.  Indeed,  monogamists 
sometimes  find  it  hard  to  keep  up  with  the  fancies  and 
wants  of  “ the  lady  of  the  house.”  It  must  also  be  re- 
membered that  an  African  wife  costs  money  before  she  is 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC. 


59 


secured.  The  man  who  wants  a girl  to  wife  must  first  get 
together  the  purchase-money  in  the  form  of  oxen,  bul- 
locks, or  some  other  article  of  trade.  A woman  has  no 
choice  in  the  matter  of  marriage.  Often  she  is  chosen 
while  quite  a child.  A Krooman  by  the  name  of  “ Poor 
Fellow”  took  me,  while  I was  passing  through  Krootown, 
to  the  dwelling  of  his  affianced.  He  was  a grown  man  ; 
she  was  a little  twelve-year-old  girl.  Poor  Fellow  was 
saving  money  to  pay  for  her.  She  had  already  been  prom- 
ised him.  The  article  was  not  to  be  delivered,  however,  till 
full  payment  was  made. 

The  wife  is  property.  She  is  in  absolute  submission  to 
her  husband.  She  never  sits  down  to  meals  with  him, 
and  always  treats  him  as  her  lord. 

As  in  Holland  and  other  parts  of  Europe,  notably  in 
the  Alps,  where  wives  are  often  seen  hitched  up  with 
asses  and  plowing  in  the  fields  while  their  husbands  guide 
the  plow  ;*  as  in  all  barbarous  countries,  so  also  in  Liberia 
among  the  natives,  the  women  perform  much  physical  labor. 
I have  seen  women  in  “ the  land  of  the  Dutch  ” load 
and  unload  vessels,  run  the  freight  canal  boats,  and  carry 
immense  burdens.  The  African  wife  takes  her  axe,  goes 
to  the  woods,  and  comes  home  with  a huge  pile  of  sticks 
on  her  head.  It  is  perfectly  wonderful  to  see  the  loads 
women  carry  on  the  head ; and  they  can  keep  them  there, 
and  even  dance,  without  touching  them  with  their  hands. 

The  African  wife  is  not  an  idle,  useless  being.  She 
washes  the  clothes,  looks  after  the  house,  and  cooks.  She 
boils  rice  to  perfectiom.  She  rises  with  the  sun,  goes  to 
the  spring  for  water,  takes  up  the  mats  from  the  station- 
ary beds,  which  are  used  during  the  day  as  settees, 
brushes  up,  arranges  things  in  order,  then  cooks  the  break- 


* Foster’s  Cyclopedia,  p.  668. 


6o 


LIBERIA  : 


fast.  I have  seen  her  varied  daily  experiences  morn- 
ing, noon,  and  afternoon.  I have  seen  her  going  to  and 
returning  from  the  spring,  busy  in  her  dwelling,  cooking 
outside,  looking  after  the  children,  bathing  them,  and  oil- 
ing and  braiding  their  hair. 

The  traveller  is  familiar  with  the  dress  of  the  native  Afri- 
can. He  wears  a girdle  about  his  loins,  and  a wide  piece 
of  cloth,  manufactured  by  his  wife,  thrown  loosely  across 
his  left  shoulder  and  wrapped  around  his  body.  It  is  like 
the  kilt  worn  by  the  Scottish  Highlander.  The  Mandingoes 
wear  a long,  loose  flowing  robe,  usually  made  out  of  white 
cloth  of  their  own  manufacture. 

I think,  of  course,  that  the  African  can  improve  on  both 
the  quantity  and  style  of  his  dress.  I except  the  Man- 
dingoes.  But  I do  not  believe  that  they  will  ever  adopt 
European  or  American  garments  and  style.  They  ought 
not  to  do  so.  They  are  not  suited  to  their  climate. 
Dressed  as  they  are,  these  Liberian  natives  could  appear 
in  Hyde  Park  or  on  Broadway  without  violating  the  de- 
cencies of  life.  Of  course,  they  would  create  an  excite- 
ment ; but  so  does  the  East  Indiaman  in  London,  and  the 
Chinaman  in  New  York.  After  all  it  is  a question  of 
comfort,  custom,  and  taste. 

Some  of  the  women  are  very  handsome.  One  can  see 
nowhere  in  the  world  better  specimens  of  natural  beauty. 
They  carry  themselves  like  queens.  The  Vey  women  are 
especially  handsome.  Their  expression  and  form  are 
charming.  Their  feet  are  perfectly  symmetrical  and  deli- 
cately small.  Their  eyes  and  teeth  would  be  envied  by  a 
Parisian  belle.  “ Thou  art  black  and  comely,”  could  be 
applied  to  a Vey  woman  without  hesitation. 

The  native  women  wear  a piece  of  cloth  which  extends 
from  their  waist  down  to  their  ankles.  The  cloth  is  some- 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC. 


6 1 


times  a prettily-dyed  specimen  of  their  own  skillful  mak- 
ing ; but  near  the  coast  one  often  sees  imported  cloth 
worn  with  pride  by  those  who  can  afford  it.  African 
women,  like  American  women,  prefer  foreign  goods.  It 
sounds  “bigger”  than  “home-made.”  Around  their 
necks,  ankles,  and  wrists  they  wear  flashy  ornaments.  It 
is  amusing  to  see  the  variegated  adornments  of  an  African 
lady.  We  smile  just  as  we  would  at  a Dutch  peasant,  or 
at  the  Apostle  of  Aestheticism.  The  hair  is  always  done 
up  with  scrupulous  care.  These  women  have  “ fleecy 
locks  but  they  do  their  hair  up  so  as  to  charm  “ the 
civilized  man.”  It  is  something  wonderful.  When  they 
get  through  combing,  plaiting,  braiding,  and  adorning, 
they  look  exceedingly  well. 

Such  is  the  picture  of  an  African  woman.  A head  done 
up  with  neatness,  skill,  and  taste ; a piece  of  cloth  ex- 
tending from  the  waist  to  the  ankles ; gold  or  some  other 
kind  of  adornments  around  neck,  wrists,  and  ankles.  There 
she  stands ; and  you  involuntarily  repeat  what  the  queen 
of  Sheba  may  have  inspired  Solomon  to  say,  “ Thou  art 
black  and  comely.” 

A part  of  her  body  is  exposed,  it  is  true ; but  nobody 
has  evil  thoughts  or  evil  desires.  The  stranger,  visiting 
Edinburgh,  Scotland,  turns  and  looks  long  and  admiringly 
at  the  beautifully  shaped  limbs  of  the  fish-wives  of  New- 
haven,  whose  dresses  are  as  short  as  those  of  school-girls. 
The  stranger  may  have  evil  thoughts ; but  the  Scotch- 
man never  thinks  about  those  charming  women  who  go 
about  their  streets  with  exposed  limbs  selling  fish  to  who- 
ever may  buy.  It  is  so  in  Liberia  with  the  native  women. 
No  one  notices  a woman’s  bust,  or  arms,  or  limbs  other 
than  to  think  of  specimens  of  painting  and  sculpture,  and 
go  on  his  way  saying  to  himself,  “ Art  may  imitate,  but  it 
can  not  equal  nature.” 


62 


LIBERIA  : 


The  natives  living  in  the  territory  of  Liberia  have  rules 
and  laws  of  their  own ; but  they  acknowledge,  to  some 
extent,  the  general  oversight  and  control  of  the  Republic. 
Their  governments  are  monarchical,  as  a rule.  Their 
kings,  chiefs,  or  headmen  inherit  their  position  and 
authority.  Native  kings  have  attended  the  Liberian 
Legislature  and  participated  in  its  deliberations.  Two 
native  delegates  from  the  Grebos  sat  in  the  last  House 
(1884).  The  intention  is  to  give  the  native  element  even 
larger  representation  in  the  future  than  in  the  past,  go- 
ing as  far  as  practicable  in- the  matter.  Of  course,  to 
grant  general  representation,  that  is,  in  proportion  to 
numbers,  would  be  to  subjugate  the  Americo- Liberian 
civilization  to  native  Paganism  and  Mohammedanism. 

Men  write  about  “ the  savages  of  Africa.”  The  geog- 
raphies read,  “Central  Africa  is  an  unexplored  region, 
inhabited  by  savage  tribes  of  Negroes.”  There  can  be 
no  question  as  to  the  existence  of  savages.  There  are 
some  tribes  which  have  been  made  savages  by  the  in- 
famous slave-trade  conducted  for  centuries  by  Europeans 
and  white  Americans ; but,  as  a rule,  the  natives  of  Cen- 
tral-Tropical Africa  are  kind,  hospitable,  good-natured, 
trustful  to  a fault.  Their  confidence  can  be  more  easily 
secured  than  any  people  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  because 
their  natural  bonhomie  leads  them  to  trust ; and  they 
too  easily  forgive  and  forget  wrongs,  because  of  the  nat- 
ural buoyancy  of  their  character.  Mungo  Park  is  sick  unto 
death  among  them.  They  nurse  him  till  he  gets  well, 
and  send  him  away  with  this  parting  blessing : 

“ Go,  white  man,  go  ; but  with  thee  bear 

The  Negro's  wish,  the  Negro's  prayer  ; 

Remembrance  of  the  Negro’s  care.” 

Livingstone  dies  in  the  interior  of  Central  Africa,  and 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC. 


63 


willing  Negro  hands  hear  him  over  hills  and  through  val- 
leys and  jungles  and  swamps,  until  they  deliver  his  lifeless 
body  to  the  white  men,  who  dwell  by  the  shores  of  the  far- 
resounding  Indian  Ocean. 

If  in  interior  Africa,  if  on  the  coast,  if  in  the  North  or 
in  the  South,  they  have  shot  into  and  destroyed  exploring 
expeditions,  it  has  been  because  white  men,  in  order  to  get 
slaves,  have  burnt  down  their  towns  and  carried  into 
bondage  their  women  and  their  children,  and  produced  such 
impressions  as  made  them  savage  and  revengeful.  Even 
explorers,  when  opposed,  have  fought  their  way  through 
a country  in  which  they  had  no  rights  except  such  as  were 
granted  them.  Africa,  for  centuries,  has  been  robbed  and 
mobbed  ; and  yet,  man’s  inhumanity  to  man  has  only  made 
her  countless  millions  mourn. 

I have  heard  of  African  honesty  and  hospitality  from 
the  lips  of  white  and  black  travellers,  men  unknown  to 
literature  or  fame,  and  yet  who  as  merchants,  missionaries, 
and  explorers  have  seen  much  of  the  interior.  Being 
strangers,  they  were  given  “the  best  house”  and  “the 
very  best  fare.”  Being  at  the  mercy  of  the  natives,  they 
slept  with  their  purse  exposed  to  view,  and  yet  never  lost 
a dollar.  One  man  lost  a package  fully  fifty  miles  from 
town.  On  his  arrival,  he  reported  his  loss  to  the  king. 
On  rising  next  morning,  the  package  was  handed  him, 
having  been  found  by  natives  passing  over  the  same  road. 
Read  the  criminal  records  of  Christendom,  and  then  hear 
our  challenge  to  find  more  good-heartedness,  more  honesty 
anywhere  than  we  find  among  the  natives  of  Alnca,  espe- 
cially those  who  are  removed  from  the  evil  influences  of 
the  coast. 

But  some  people  will  not  believe  in  the  honesty  of  the 
natives.  I gave  some  stubborn  facts  to  a white  man  on 


64 


LIBERIA  : 


one  occasion.  His  reply  was,  “Well,  that  may  be  true: 
but  it  is  to  be  ascribed  not  to  innate  honesty,  but  to  their 
fear  resulting  from  superstition.”  I deny  it.  England 
once  was  as  Liberia  is.  I speak  of  the  natives.  As  a 
French  writer  says,  “ M.  Guizot  tells  us  that  Alfred,  to  put 
the  honesty  of  his  subjects  to  the  test,  used  to  cause 
bracelets  of  gold  to  be  hung  up  in  public  places.  They 
were  never  stolen  ; and  if  a traveller  dropped  his  purse  by 
the  roadside,  he  had  no  need  to  turn  back  and  seek  it,  for 
he  was  certain  to  find  it  untouched,  even  though  he  did 
not  pass  that  way  again  for  a month.  Such  was  the  Saxon 
in  the  time  of  Alfred  the  Great.” 

Such  are  many  of  the  African  tribes  to-day.  But  Euro- 
pean commercial  intercourse  is  certainly  somewhat  demor- 
alizing. First,  the  slave-trade  came  like  a dragon  to  bite, 
to  poison,  to  kill.  And  now  Christian  nations  are  contin- 
uing their  damnable  work  by  sending  rum  to  “ the  heathen 
in  Africa.”  True,  they  send  missionaries.  But  they  first 
make  Africa  sick,  then  they  send  in  the  doctor;  they  give 
poison,  then  they  administer  an  antidote.  So  did  Spain 
deal  with  Africa  when  she  sent  her  priests  in  her  slave- 
ships.  So  does  Great  Britain  treat  “the  Dark  Continent  ” 
to-day  in  sending  her  missionaries  in  her  rum-ships.  No 
wonder  that  Catholic  cathedrals  and  monasteries  are  decay- 
ing in  the  Congo  valley ! No  wonder  that  the  natives  turned 
from  the  priest  and  the  crucifix  in  disgust!  No  wonder 
that  Protestant  Christianity  has  an  up-hill  work  ! No  won- 
der that  the  tipsy  African  recently  said,  in  reply  to  the  re- 
buke of  the  European  missionary:  “Be  he  no  your  brud- 
derwho  send  us  rum?  Go  talkee  him;  no  talkee  me!” 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC. 


65 


CHAPTER  XI. 

PEOPLE— THE  KROO  AND  THE  VEY  TRIBES. 
HESE  two  tribes  are  especially  useful  and  distin- 


guished. Both  the  Kroos  and  the  Veys  have  towns 
near  Monrovia,  the  capital  of  Liberia.  I saw  more  of 
them  than  of  any  of  the  other  tribes. 

The  Kroomen  are  the  first  people  one  meets  on  the 
West  Coast.  They  are  the  sailors.  They  are  in  the  sea 
from  infancy.  I have  seen  little  girls  and  boys  that  could 
hardly  walk,  playing  in  the  water  as  the  child  of  an  interior 
town  would  play  in  the  sand.  At  Sierra  Leone  or  Mon- 
rovia, Kroo  sailors  board  every  vessel  bound  down  the 
coast.  It  is  an  interesting  change  from  white  sailors  to 
black  sailors,  and  from  a known  to  an  unknown  tongue. 
White  sailors,  hardy  though  they  be,  are  not  equal  to  the 
task  of  taking  a vessel  from  Sierra  Leone  to  the  Congo, 
and  bringing  her  back.  The  sun,  the  rain,  the  night  air, 
and  the  dew  would  enfeeble  them  in  a fortnight.  They 
would  sicken  and  die  before  they  reached  the  Cameroons. 
These  Kroomen  are  indispensable.  They  were  found  to 
be  so  in  the  days  of  the  slave-trade,  hence  every  Krooman 
is  able  to  make  the  proud  boast : “ I have  never  been  a 
slave.” 

Being  sailors,  the  Kroomen  are  of  a roving  disposition. 
Their  highest  ambition  is  to  cross  the  deep  blue  sea. 
Many  of  them  have  been  “ abroad”;  and  they  become  “ lions  ” 
on  their  return.  The  “lions”  delight  to  gather  their  less 
fortunate  brethren  around  them  and  expatiate  on  the 
wonders  of  “ the  white  man’s  country.” 

It  is  amusing  to  see  some  of  them  on  their  return  from 
■“  abroad.”  Of  course  they  must  dress  “white  man  fash 


66 


LIBERIA  : 


and  they  parade  themselves  to  the  amusement  of  the  Eu- 
ropean and  American,  and  to  the  envy  of  many  of  their 
fellow-comrades.  I have  seen  a returned  Krooman  wearing 
a Prince  Albert  diagonal  coat  buttoned  up  to  his  neck,  but 
not  another  article  of  clothing  did  he  have  on — no  shoes, 
pants,  shirt,  collar,  or  hat — nothing  but  his  “girdle  about 
his  loins  ” and  his  “ Prince  Albert  ” ! But  he  strutted  around 
“ Allee  same  like  ’Merican  man  ” ! I have  seen  a Krooman 
in  English  walking-coat,  silk  hat,  and  umbrella,  but  no 
shoes  ! Many  amusing  pictures  could  be  drawn. 

These  Kroomen  return  home  with  singular  names.  The 
sailors  must  palm  them  off  6n  their  confiding  Ethiopian 
comrades  as  “proper  ’Merican,”  or  “ ’ristocratic  English.”" 
One  day,  at  Krootown,  I asked  a lad  who  had  been  with 
his  father  on  an  English  man-of-war,  and  who  could  speak 
a little  English:  “ Bubbs,  what  is  your  name?”  “Little 
Potato,”  was  the  reply.  “What  is  your  father’s  name?” 
I laughed  aloud  on  receiving  for  answer,  “ Big  Potato.” 
They  take  a pride  in  such  names  as  “Two  Pound  Ten,” 
“Pea  Soup,”  “ Jumping  Jack,”  “Poor  Fellow,”  etc.  Two 
brothers  returned  from  a man-of-war.  I asked  one  of  them 
on  Kroo  beach:  “What  is  your  name?”  “Jack  Savage,” 
he  answered.  “What  is  your  brother’s  name?”  “John 
Savage.”  The  steward  on  board  of  a West  Coast  vessel, 
on  which  I was  a passenger,  told  me  that  his  name  was 
Dick  Richard,  and  it  was  a long  time  before  I could  make 
any  change  in  such  a peculiar  cognomen.  We  changed 
several  names.  “Little  Potato”  is  now  known  as  “Tous- 
saint  L’Ouverture,”  and  “Poor  Fellow”  is  called  “Han- 
nibal.” After  all,  “what’s  in  a name?”  But  it  is  bar- 
barous to  make  a man,  who  knows  no  English,  call  himself 
“ Slow  Coach.” 

These  Kroomen  have  no  respect  for  titles.  They  are 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC. 


67 


very  democratic ; they  are  perfectly  courteous  and  re- 
spectful when  they  call  you  by  your  surname,  without  any 
prefix  whatever.  I was  surprised  beyond  expression  to 
hear  the  United  States  Minister’s  hired  Kroo  head-boat- 
man say,  “ Smit,  are  you  going  boat-riding  to-day?”  For 
six  weeks  the  Kroo  steward  on  board  our  homeward- 
bound  vessel  occasionally  amused  me  by  asking,  “ Stewart, 
can  I do  anything  for  you  ? ” I never  corrected  him  till 
the  end  of  the  voyage,  when  I gave  him  a few  points  on 
American  etiquette. 

My  impression  is  that  the  Krooman  is  a very  mercenary 
fellow.  His  contact  with  white  men  in  trade  has  made 
him  so,  however.  He  will  beg  if  he  is  dying,  and  charge 
you  for  telling  his  name ; but  he  is  a manly  fellow,  and  if 
he  gets  attached  to  you,  there  is  nothing  that  he  will  not 
do  for  you. 

The  Kroos  are  neat  and  cleanly  ; the  women  bathe  three 
times  a day.  They  use  a wonderful  amount  of  water.  One 
of  the  most  picturesque  sights  I have  ever  seen  in  my  life 
was  the  Krootown  girls  and  women  going  to  and  coming 
from  the  spring,  in  the  early  morning  and  the  late  after- 
noon, with  tubs,  buckets,  and  barrels  of  water  balanced  on 
their  heads,  while  they  laughed,  talked,  sang,  and  danced. 

A Krooman  thinks  there  is  no  place  like  home,  and  no 
person  in  the  world  like  mother.  The  attachment  of 
grown  men  to  their  mothers  is  childlike  and  truly  touch- 
ing. This  is  natural.  Polygamy  gives  a man  several 
families  and  homes ; but  the  children  have  only  one  hut 
and  one  mamma.  F ather  is  often  away — never  in  one  house 
long;  but  mother  is  always  present  to  decide  the  little  dis- 
putes, to  satisfy  the  little  stomachs,  to  sing  away  the  1 1- 
tle  pains  and  sorrows.  The  sweetest  name  on  Krooman 
tongue  is  “ mother.” 


68 


LIBERIA  : 


Seeing  New  York  for  the  first  time  from  the  deck  of  a 
vessel,  a Krooman  went  into  ecstasies.  He  was  asked  if 
he  would  not  like  to  live  in  that  great  city.  “No,”  was 
the  quick  reply.  “ Why  ? ” asked  the  astounded  Ameri- 
can. The  answer  was  readily  given,  “ No  Krooman  live 
here;  no  Kroowoman.  No  Kroo  own  house.”  The  rea- 
son given  me  by  a Kroo  steward  for  not  living  in  New 
York  was,  “Can’t  leave  mammy.”  He  was  fully  thirty- 
five  years  of  age.  Enterprising  and  progressive,  the  Kroos, 
under  the  stimulus  of  a righteous  commerce  and  a truly 
Christian  civilization,  will  become  a powerful  force  in 
African  regeneration. 

The  Veys  are  the  tribe  which  take  the  first  place  in 
Liberia.  They  are  barbarians  or  “ heathen  ” inagis  natiofie 
quam  ratione.  In  what  makes  manly  character,  in  what 
makes  intellectual  strength,  the  Veys  rank  with  any  peo- 
ple. They  have  invented  their  own  alphabet,  constructed 
their  own  written  as  well  as  spoken  language,  and  they  are 
slowly  growing  a literature.  They  use  a pen  and  an  in- 
delible ink  that  they  make  themselves.  I have  often  vis- 
ited Veytown  and  looked  with  pride  upon  these  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Ethiopian  race,  who  show  that  they 
possess  the  highest  order  of  intellect.  I admire  the  Man- 
dingoes,  because  they  are  learned  in  the  Koran  and  the 
Commentaries ; but  their  books  are  borrowed  from  the 
Arabic.  I go  into  inexpressible  enthusiasm  over  the 
Veys;  because  they  are  not  only  versed  in  Arabic  lore, 
but  because,  as  has  already  been  said,  they  also  have 
their  own  language  in  which  they  speak  and  write ; and  they 
have  a growing  literature.  May  they  be  speedily  brought 
in  contact  with  a better  civilization,  and  receive  the  ben- 
efits of  a truly  Christian  education. 

It  is  a mistake  to  suppose  these  Liberian  natives  sim- 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC.  69 

pie,  ignorant  creatures.  My  impression  is  that  they  are 
naturally  superior  to  the  average  Negro  who  has  been 
crushed  by  the  monster,  slavery.  They  are  keen,  bright, 
quick-witted,  able  to  distinguish  the  genuine  from  the 
sham.  Let  the  reader  remember  that  the  Veyman  lives 
in  his  neatly  constructed  dwelling ; that  he  has  his  own 
written  language,  and  is  acquainted  with  Arabic  liter- 
ature, and  can  converse  in  that  Asiatic  tongue  as  well 
as  in  the  English!  Is  that  man  to  be  despised?  No; 
I have  often  felt  his  comparative  superiority ! Since 
seeing  them,  I do  not  wonder  at  the  brains  found  among 
Negroes  in  the  land  of  their  captivity.  Theodore  Dwight, 
Esq.,  says  that  between  1770-5,  a report  reached  Eng- 
land that  a young  African  slave  in  Maryland  could 
read  and  write  Arabic,  and  was  well  versed  in  Arabic 
literature.  His  name  was  Job-ben-Solomon.  He  was  re- 
leased, sent  to  England,  and  there  assisted  Sir  Hans  Sloane, 
the  able  scholar  and  founder  of  the  British  Museum,  in 
translating  several  Arabic  works.*  Much  has  been  done 
in  Liberia  to  promote  Christian  civilization  and  education 
among  the  natives.  They  respond  everywhere  to  outside 
influences,  Africanizing  them,  and  using  them  to  develop 
their  country  and  to  promote  its  welfare.  May  the  good 
work  go  on  until  Ethiopia  shall  rise  from  her  reclining 
position  and  stand  upon  her  feet  to  illustrate  the  poet’s 
prophecy : 

“Time’s  noblest  offspring  is  the  last.” 


* Methodist  Quarterly  Review , January,  1869. 


70 


LIBERIA  : 


CHAPTER  XII. 

PEOPLE — THE  AMERICO-AFRICANS. 


THE  emigrants  from  the  United  States  and  the  West 
Indies  and  their  descendants  are  called  “ Liberians.” 
They  were  sent  out  by  the  American  Colonization  Societ)^. 
Up  to  January  I,  1867,  13,136  emigrants  had  gone  to 
Liberia,  and  the  United  States  Government  had  returned 
to  Africa  5,722  recaptured  slaves.  But  since  1867  there 
has  been  a remarkable  decrease  in  the  number  of  colored 
people  who  have  left  America  for  Africa.  The  Coloniza- 
tion Society  pays  the  emigrant’s  passage  and  provides  for 
his  maintenance  for  six  months. 

We  must  candidly  say  that  the  Americo-Africans  in 
Liberia  are  not  in  such  a condition  as  to  call  forth  our 
enthusiasm.  We  refer  to  the  masses,  not  to  the  few. 
Most  of  the  colored  people  who  have  emigrated  to  Africa 
were  poor  and  comparatively  ignorant.  In  this  new 
country  and  hostile  climate,  they  have  enjoyed  neither  the 
support  of  large  capital  nor  the  direction  of  general  in- 
telligence. They  carried  to  Africa  very  little  idea  of  vol- 
untary, systematic  labor.  They  worked  in  America  more 
from  outside  than  inside  influences.  Finding  themselves 
free  to  lie  down  and  to  rise  up,  and  having  been  supported 
by  the  Colonization  Society,  they  have  done  very  little 
work.  I have  seen  Liberians  who  went  to  the  West  Coast, 
with  reputations  for  industry,  sitting  idly  in  dilapidated 
or  rudely  constructed  houses,  or  walking  around  abusing 
the  Government  for  not  opening  roads  and  building 
bridges,  thus  creating  prosperity  ; or  these  demoralized 
individuals  would  exhaust  their  vocabulary  in  abusing 
their  neighbors,  characterizing  them  as  the  meanest  and 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC. 


7 1 


most  devilish  of  mankind.  Then  some  have  plainly  said, 
“ I worked  hard  enough  when  I was  a slave.  Here  I can 
lie  down  when  I want  to  and  get  up  when  I please  ; and 
there  is  no  one  to  molest  or  make  me  afraid.” 

The  motto  of  the  Republic  is,  “ The  love  of  liberty 
brought  us  here.”  Many  Liberians  make  this  to  mean, 
“ To  be  free  from  labor  we  came  here.”  True  to  their  old 
Southern  training,  a large  class  of  the  people  look  upon 
labor  as  degrading,  as  fit  only  for  menials.  This  spirit, 
however,  is  not  as  wide-spread  as  in  former  years.  Wages 
are  low.  Fifteen  dollars  can  buy  a native  boy  “ appren- 
tice ” for  a term  of  years.  Twenty-five  cents  a day  and 
meals  are  considered  fair.  Four  dollars  a month  is  aver- 
age wages  even  for  Liberian  help.  But  it  costs  in  one 
way  and  another  to  have  a retinue  of  servants.  They 
must  be  fed,  clothed,  and  housed.  This  is  a luxury  only 
for  those  upon  whom  Fortune  has  smiled.  But  as  the 
Liberians  are  eminently  democratic,  the  poor  imitate  the 
rich  and  render  themselves  both  pitiable  and  ludicrous. 
I have  seen  many  amusing  pictures  in  Monrovia. 

I have  seen  a barefooted  little  girl  about  ten  years  of 
age,  dressed  in  poor  calico,  on  her  way  to  school,  and  a 
native  boy  about  twelve,  half  naked,  carrying  her  primer ! 
I have  seen  a boy  on  the  back  of  a native  lad,  using  the 
unfortunate  son  of  the  soil  in  place  of  a Shetland  pony ! 
There  are  no  ponies,  no  donkeys,  no  little  carts  to  ride  to 
school  in;  so  native  boys  are  often  substituted.  It  is  not 
in  keeping  with  the  dignity  of  a gentleman  or  lady  to 
carry  a bundle  in  the  streets.  Such  is  the  general  senti- 
ment. There  are  honorable  and  pronounced  exceptions  ; 
but,  as  a general  rule,  the  Americo-Africans  have  carried 
with  them  old  Southern  ideas  of  labor.  An  eminent  gen- 
tleman, having  been  called  to  a high  and  responsible  posi- 


7 2 


LIBERIA  : 


tion  in  the  Republic  to  which  he  must  devote  all  his  time 
and  energy,  had  to  give  up  his  coffee-farm.  He  adver- 
tised for  some  one  to  take  charge  of  it.  He  told  me  that 
it  was  amusing  to  hear  the  applicants  tell  how  much  work 
they  could  make  a native  man  do.  They  considered  that 
their  very  best  recommendation.  But  this  gentleman, 
who  is  a man  of  great  energy  and  thrift,  would  interrupt 
and  astonish  each  applicant  with  the  question,  “ How 
much  work  can  yon  do  ? ” 

An  orator,  Abraham  Smith,  formerly  of  Mt.  Pleasant, 
S.  C.,  making  an  address  in  Planters’  Hall,  on  the  St.  Paul’s 
River,  and  rebuking  his  fellow-citizens  for  their  false 
notions  about  labor,  and  denouncing  many  of  their  silly 
practices,  brought  his  speech  to  a climax  with  the  startling 
declaration,  “ You  FREE  TILL  YOU  FOOL.”  His  remark 
created  a sensation.  The  Liberian  certainly  gives  a broad 
definition  to  freedom.  He  is,  perhaps,  the  best  living 
specimen  of  the  democrat.  He  recognizes  no  social  grades. 
Each  man  is  a king.  An  American  on  visiting  the  Presi- 
dent was  surprised  to  hear  him  say  to  his  butler,  11  Mr. 
Ross,  please  bring  in  the  wine.”  This  was  six  years  ago. 

Is  it  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  so  little  has  been 
done  in  Liberia  ? The  climate  is  against  the  people.  Their 
education  has  been  against  them,  and  they  have  increased 
their  weakness  by  lying  down  on  native  muscle,  and  de- 
pending too  much  on  foreign  philanthropy.  Charity 
enfeebles  the  energies,  destroys  enterprise,  and  prevents 
self-reliance.  No  wonder  that  even  after  sixty  years  of 
opportunity,  and  thirty-seven  years  of  national  existence, 
there  are  no  railroads,  no  manufactories,  no  steam  or 
water-mills,  no  bridges,  no  horses  or  oxen  in  use,  except 
at  Cape  Palmas ! Practically  little  beyond  what  nature 
provides  ! I send  for  a barber  to  trim  my  hair.  There  is 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC. 


73 


no  barber-shop  in  Monrovia,  a town  of  at  least  two  thou- 
sand inhabitants,  the  capital  and  metropolis  of  the  Republic. 
He  comes.  Ten  years  ago  he  was  doing  well  in  Augusta, 
Georgia.  He  brings  neither  cloth,  towels,  comb,  brush, 
whisk-broom — nothing  but  an  old  pair  of  very  dull  scissors. 
I ask  him,  “ How  is  this?”  “ Well,”  he  replies,  “ I have 
stopped  barbarizing."  I talked  to  him  about  railroads 
and  other  enterprises.  He  complained  of  the  poverty  of 
the  country  and  the  slowness  of  the  people,  and  said  he 
had  stopped  thinking  about  such  things,  and  then  voiced 
the  sentiment, 

“ Man  wants  but  little  here  below, 

Nor  wants  that  little  long.” 

The  masses  of  colored  people  who  have  settled  in  Li- 
beria went  there  with  a wrong  impression.  They  emi- 
grated with  the  feeling  that  they  were  going  to  “ a land 
flowing  with  milk  and  honey  ”;  then  when  they  found  that 
to  build  up  a Christian  Negro  Nationality,  to  establish  a 
new  and  comfortable  home  for  the  family,  and  to  bear  the 
burdens  of  a great  social,  religious,  and  political  experi- 
ment, required  sacrifice,  labor,  pluck,  and  steadfastness, 
they  were  surprised,  and  became  disappointed,  discouraged, 
and  despondent. 

But  this  is  not  to  be  wondered  at.  Throw  a man  upon 
the  West  Coast  comparatively  penniless  and  with  no  regular 
habits  of  industry ; put  him  to  acclimate  in  some  broken- 
down  old  house  into  which  the  water  runs  when  it  rains, 
and  through  which  the  Harmattan  blows  as  through  a 
sieve ; give  him  poor  food  to  eat  for  six  months,  and  you 
make  him  an  easy  prey  to  death  or  “ constitutional  tired- 
ness.” 

I have  no  sympathy,  however,  with  disappointed  per- 
sons who  return  to  the  United  States  and  abuse  Liberia. 


4 


74 


LIBERIA : 


The  difficulties  to  be  met  there  were  largely  encountered 
here  by  the  early  settlers.  If  the  emigrant  goes  back  from 
the  coast,  he  can  settle  in  a hilly  country  and  enjoy  health ; 
but  the  Christian  Negro  is  cursed  by  poverty.  He  can  not 
carry  capital  to  Liberia ; and  thereby  hangs  a tale.  It  is 
not  the  country.  Money  to  put  boats  on  the  river,  to 
build  railroads,  to  drain  the  swamps,  and  to  open  up  high- 
ways to  the  interior — this  is  what  is  needed.  Capital  in 
the  hands  of  a population  founded  on  aboriginal  stock,  and 
enjoying  the  benefits  of  Christian  education,  will  solve  the 
problem  of  life  in  Liberia.  If  I could  influence  the  Col- 
onization Society,  I would  earnestly  plead  with  them  to 
stop  making  emigration  their  objective  point  and  use  their 
funds  mainly  in  internal  improvements,  opening  roads, 
building  bridges,  fostering  industries,  and  especially  in 
establishing  a system  of  agricultural  and  industrial  edu- 
cation, beginning  with  the  common  schools. 

A person  who  thinks  of  emigrating  to  Liberia  should 
examine  himself  thoroughly  as  to  his  physical  condition  ; 
more  carefully  than  a volunteer  is  examined  before  he  is 
permitted  to  enlist  for  the  war.  One  needs  all  the  vigor 
of  mind  and  body  that  it  is  possible  to  command.  The 
African  fever  invariably  attacks  and  besieges  the  weakest 
part  of  our  system.  It  develops  the  germ  of  any  disease 
that  may  be  in  us;  and,  while  running  riot  through  our 
bodies,  it  makes  us  home-sick,  fills  us  with  home-longings  ; 
it  makes  us  hanker  after  “the  flesh-pots  of  Egypt,”  as  a 
distinguished  Liberian  puts  it.  If  the  person  meditating 
emigration  be  young,  of  strong  constitution,  and  good 
health  ; and  if  he  can  live  somewhat  independent  of  the 
provisions  of  the  Colonization  Society,  the  chances  of 
acclimating  successfully  are  in  his  favor.  If  he  can  not  meet 
these  conditions,  let  him  look  well  lest  he  leap  into  the 
dark;  lest  the  battle  of  life  be  too  severe  for  him. 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC. 


75 


Industry,  strongly  backed  by  health  and  a little  capital, 
can  reach  competence  and  acquire  wealth.  More  is  not 
accomplished  because  these  conditions  do  not  abound.  A 
man  need  not  go  to  Liberia  without  money  and  expect 
to  become  independent  easily  or  quickly.  It  is  hard  to 
get  money ; there  is  such  a little  in  circulation.  Those 
who  have  “cash”  generally  hold  it.  The  circulating  me- 
dium of  trade  may  be  said  to  be  cloth,  tobacco,  and  salt 
food.  Domestic  debts  are  paid  in  “ trade.”  I have  heard 
laboring  people  testify,  again  and  again,  on  this  point. 
Even  the  small  farmers  find  it  hard,  almost  impossible,  to 
sell  their  coffee  for  reasonable  “ cash  ” prices.  The  mer- 
chants prefer  to  deal  in  “ trade.”  It  is  to  their  advantage  to 
do  so.  I work  for  a man.  He  gives  me  an  order  on  the  store 
where  he  deals,  and  I go  there  and  take  my  pay  in  trade. 
This  makes  it  hard  for  a poor  man  to  get  hold  of  money. 
This  condition  of  things  stifles  enterprise,  especially  in  the 
cultivation  of  the  soil.  If  an  emigrant  brings  with  him 
some  cloth,  tobacco,  and  a little  cash  ; if  he  keeps  his  health, 
and  is  economical  and  judicious,  he  can  plant  coffee  and  in 
three  years  begin  to  gather  a crop.  He  can  cultivate  sugar, 
which  he  may  harvest  annually.  The  coffee-tree  does  not 
commence  to  yield  until  from  three  to  four  years  after  the 
plant  is  set  out.  But  when  it  does  begin  to  bear,  it  yields 
continuously  for  about  thirty  years.  The  farmer  sets  out 
the  scions,  and  then  for  the  next  thirty  years  he  has  simply 
to  keep  down  the  weeds  and  grass,  stir  the  earth  around 
the  roots,  and  keep  his  farm  clean.  His  annual  harvest  is 
sure.  It  is  to  be  said,  however,  that  one  man,  unaided,  can 
not  cultivate  more  than  five  acres  of  coffee;  and  the  net 
profit  per  acre  is  not  more  than  forty  or  fifty  dollars,  and  I 
give  the  very  highest  estimate.  It  is  hardly  ever  reached,  I 
think.  The  man  who  can  cultivate  from  fifty  to  one  hun- 


76 


LIBERIA  : 


dred  acres  is  the  farmer  who  counts  his  income  by  the  thou- 
sands. The  poor  farmer,  however,  can  increase  his  acreage 
every  year.  But  climate  and  other  conditions  will  make  it 
a long  time  before  a man,  unaided  by  either  capital  or  labor, 
can  grow  enough  coffee  to  secure  a comfortable  income. 
The  same  may  be  said  of  sugar,  with  this  difference : it  is 
easier  to  cultivate  coffee  than  sugar.  The  poor  man  can 
not  own  a sugar-mill ; but  he  can  sell  his  coffee  right  from 
the  tree,  in  the  hull. 

The  Government  gives  every  married  emigrant  twenty- 
five  acres  of  land,  and  every  single  man  ten  acres.  Of 
course,  it  is  covered  with  trees  and  a thick  undergrowth. 
The  emigrant  must  clear  it  and  prepare  it  for  planting ; 
he  then  must  buy  coffee  scions  and  set  them  out,  and  wait 
three  years,  perhaps  four,  for  his  crop.  It  is  hard  and  trying 
work.  There  are  no  horses  or  oxen  in  use.  He  does  not 
own  stock  himself,  nor  do  his  neighbors  ; he  must  walk  to 
reach  town  or  the  nearest  settlement ; he  must  build  his 
house;  he  must  struggle  hard  if  he  would  enjoy  life.  But 
after  ten,  twenty,  aye,  thirty  years  of  earnest,  faithful  effort, 
he  settles  down  under  his  own  vine  and  fig-tree,  a happy, 
contented,  and  wealthy  farmer.  I met  a few  of  these  in 
Liberia. 

But  while  such  are  the  possibilities,  the  present  con- 
dition of  the  Americo-African  is  weak.  The  population 
needs  energy ; and  it  will  take  a mighty  force  to  energize 
the  whole  Republic.  Liberia  needs  a greater  population 
representing  the  Christian  civilization.  She  needs  men  ; 
she  needs  capitalists ; she  needs  teachers ; she  needs  a 
supply,  not  of  muscle,  but  of  educated  brains ; money  for 
business  investments;  people  of  force  of  character  and 
push,  who  will  make  the  wilderness  to  bloom,  the  rivers 
and  bays  to  be  white  with  the  evidences  of  commercial 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC. 


77 


activity,  and  the  nation  to  shake  off  its  stagnation  and 
stand  erect  in  the  strength  of  general  prosperity. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

PEOPLE — RELATION  OF  LIBERIANS  AND  NATIVES. 


UNTIL  within  the  past  ten  years,  the  relation  between 
the  native  and  the  Negro  emigrant  from  America 
has  been  that  of  master  and  slave.  The  former  American 
slave  treated  the  African  freeman  as  if  he  had  no  rights 
which  were  worthy  of  respect ! And  that  spirit  has  not 
altogether  departed,  although  I am  glad  to  say  it  is  dis- 
appearing. This  fact  of  the  ill-treatment  of  the  natives  by 
the  emigrants  is  not  so  strange  after  all ; for  the  oppressed, 
when  given  an  opportunity,  generally  become  oppressors. 
The  natives  of  Liberia  have  been  to  the  emigrants  from 
America  just  what  these  ex-slaves  were  to  the  whites  of 
the  South.  They  have  been  defrauded,  beaten  with 
stripes,  and  made  to  feel  that  they  were  inferior  beings. 
They  were  excluded  from  the  churches  and  the  schools ; 
given  back-seats  at  the  camp-meetings,  if  there  were 
any  to  spare ; and  as  to  entering  an  emigrant’s  parlor 
or  even  front  door,  why,  a native  would  never  dream  of 
it.  While  much  of  this  snobbish  spirit  has  departed,  and 
while  it  is  still  decreasing,  yet  enough  of  it  remains  to 
make  a decided  impression  upon  the  student  of  Liberian 
history  and  condition.  I have  seen  a civilized  native  boy, 
who  had  studied  a few  months  in  England,  frequently 
enter  a house  on  a business  errand  by  the  back  way;  and 
the  mistress  of  the  house,  a woman  who  cooked  and 
washed  in  the  United  States  for  a living,  wanted  it  to  be 


78 


LIBERIA. 


distinctly  understood,  that  her  “ front  do’”  was  not  to  be 
used  by  “ country  people,”  as  the  natives  are  sometimes 
called. 

One  Sabbath  morning  several  natives  came  into  a church 
in  Liberia.  They  were  shown  into  back  pews ; they  did 
not  crowd  them  ; they  hardly  filled  them.  But  a thin- 
skinned  female  emigrant  flounced  out  of  the  pew  and 
out  of  the  door  with  the  air  that  an  ill-bred  white  Ameri- 
can woman  would  exhibit  on  changing  her  seat  in  a street- 
car because  she  was  too  near  a “ nigger.”  I thought  that 
she  had  left  not  to  return  ; but  no  ; in  a few  moments  she 
came  back  with  a chair,  which  she  placed  far  from  the  na- 
tives, in  one  of  the  aisles,  and  occupied  it. 

^ When  the  natives  were  not  maltreated,  they  were  made 
the  objects  of  a scornful  and  contemptuous  indifference. 
A native  king,  with  his  suite,  was  presented  to  one  of  the 
early  Presidents  of  Liberia.  His  Excellency  did  not  con- 
descend to  rise  on  receiving  His  Majesty.  The  king  felt 
the  insult ; said  nothing  there  and  then,  however,  but  he 
never  returned  or  affiliated  with  the  Liberians. 

I am  compelled  to  write  the  truth.  Some  facts  I record 
with  regret.  It  gives  me,  therefore,  special  pleasure  to 
say  that  there  are  emigrants  who  have  acted  in  a spirit 
of  Christian  charity,  fairness,  and  liberality  toward  the  na- 
tives. They  have  educated  and  Christianized  native  youth, 
and  sent  them  back  among  their  kinsfolk  and  acquaint- 
ances. I have  discovered  that,  in  many  instances,  there 
are  ties  of  affection  and  friendship  between  the  natives 
and  the  Amcrico-Africans  that  are  as  strong  as  if  they 
were  founded  in  blood-relationships. 

In  December,  1866,  President  Warner  said  to  the  Na- 
tional Legislature  in  his  annual  message:  “But  these 
chiefs  and  their  subjects  have,  undoubtedly,  certain  rights, 


NATIVE  PALAVER. 


8o 


LIBERIA  : 


both  natural  and  political,  which  should  be  highly  respected 
by  this  Government  and  people.  And  when  this  is  done, 
and  the  natives  are  not  provoked  by  us  to  the  commission  of 
lawless  deeds f or  instigated  by  dishonorable  foreigners  to 
insubordination,  there  will  subsist  between  us  and  them  a 
permanent  good  understanding  and  the  greatest  cordiality 
of  feeling.”  This  voice  is  being  heeded  now. 

Since  the  last  war  with  the  natives,  the  Greboes  of 
Cape  Palmas  in  1875,  a radical  change  has  taken  place. 
The  masses  have  not  yet  come  to  regard  the  native  as  “ a 
man  and  a brother”;  but  the  leaders  of  thought  and  public 
opinion  are  moving  in  the  right  direction,  and  a thorough 
revolution  of  the  sentiment  of  the  country  is  only  a ques- 
tion of  time.  The  native  question  is  now  prominent  in 
every  State  paper,  in  legislation,  in  public  addresses,  and 
sermons  ; and  at  public  dinners  the  education  and  civili- 
zation of  the  natives  occupy  a conspicuous  place  on  the 
list  of  toasts  that  are  proposed  and  replied  to.  There  was 
a time  when  they  were  not  admitted  to  the  privileges  of 
the  college,  or  the  schools,  with  Americo-Liberian  chil- 
dren ! Now  the  policy  of  school  and  college  is  to  educate 
natives  side  by  side  with  the  Liberian  youth. 

Another  one  of  the  most  hopeful  features  of  the  problem 
of  life  in  Liberia  is  the  fact  that  men  of  intelligence  are 
marrying  civilized  native  women.  A former  Secretary  of 
State,  an  able  lawyer,  and  a man  of  the  broadest  views,  is 
married  to  a civilized  Grebo  lady  ; and  she  is  a model  wife 
and  an  excellent  housekeeper,  reserved  yet  intelligent,  dig- 
nified yet  cordial.  This  example,  set  in  the  highest  circle 
and  walk  of  life,  is  being  followed  by  many  intelligent  and 
jfar-seeing  young  men.  Intermarriages  are  common  at  Cape 
Palmas.  I made  my  last  visit  to  the  Muhlenberg  Mission, 


* The  italics  are  the  author’s. 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC. 


8l 


conducted  so  ably  and  successfully  by  the  Rev.  D.  A.  Day, 
in  January,  1884.  Mr.  Day  told  me  that  one  of  the  lead- 
ing young  men  of  Arthington  had  written  him  asking  per- 
mission to  court  a native  girl  then  in  the  mission  school. 
Arthington  leads  Liberia.  Energy,  thrift,  industry,  prog- 
ress, and  advanced  views  as  to  life  in  general  and  to  the 
native  question  in  particular,  are  better  illustrated  there 
than  anywhere  else  in  the  Republic.  The  Liberian  boy 
works  in  the  coffee-fields,  in  the  barn,  and  at  the  coffee- 
hulling  mill  side  by  side  with  the  native  youth.  There  is 
no  difference.  I visit  the  settlement.  My  satchel  and 
bag  are  to  be  brought  from  the  mission,  two  miles  away. 
The  most  prominent  citizen  sends  his  son  and  a native 
boy  there.  What  an  example,  teaching  both  boys  the 
dignity  of  labor  ! No  wonder  that  Arthington  is  the  very 
embodiment  of  enterprise.  Its  history  shows  what  can 
be  done  in  Liberia  with  proper  pioneers  and  a little  cap- 
ital. And  yet  even  here  the  emigrants  from  America  find 
it  necessary  to  fight  the  hostile  climate.  Intermarriage 
with  the  natives  will  do  much  toward  solving  the  difficult 
problem  of  Liberia’s  advancement.  The  Republic  should 
not  look  mainly  to  America  for  its  population.  It  should 
use  its  indigenous  material  in  developing  its  great  resources. 
What  a difference  between  Sierra  Leone  and  Liberia,  be- 
tween Freetown  and  Monrovia!  In  the  English  colony 
there  are  enterprise  and  push.  I account  for  its  superior  ad- 
vancement in  two  ways  : first,  the  population  is  founded 
on  an  indigenous  stock ; and,  secondly,  capital  has  been 
judiciously  employed  in  developing  the  people  and  the 
country.  There  must  be  a fusion  between  the  Liberian 
and  the  native,  a baptism  of  the  spirit  of  labor,  and  the 
judicious  introduction  of  Christian  education  and  invested 
capital,  if  the  Republic  is  to  prosper. 


82 


LIBERIA  : 


President  Johnson  says  : “ We  have  a population  numer- 
ous, hardy,  and  industrious,  devoted  to  agriculture  and 
manufactures,  when  not  seduced  by  the  demon  of  war.  I 
mean  our  aboriginal  brothers.  Where  are  we  to  get  such 
muscle,  such  bone  and  sinew,  to  practice  the  arts  of  peace, 
and  for  defensive  war  ? Where  such  intellects?  WThere 
such  shrewdness  in  trade?  And  yet  we  are  neglecting 
them.  Had  we  discharged  our  duty  to  them,  to-day  the 
fruitful  fields  would  be  smiling  with  golden  harvests  all 
over  the  land  ; our  seas  would  be  whitened  with  the  sails 


of  commerce Even  in  the  science  of  government 

they  excel  us In  spite  of  our  neglect  of  them,  these 


chiefs  and  these  tribes  feel  that  they  are  one  with  us,  and 
prefer  living  under  the  Liberian  Government  to  beings 
ruled  by  a foreign  Government  and  an  alien  race.”  * 

If  I had  to  give  a watchword  to  Liberia,  it  would  be, 
“Christian  Education,  Industrial  Work,  and  Lu- 

SION  WITH  THE  NATIVES.”  Herein  lies  the  salvation  of  the 
Republic.  Go  to  almost  any  town  or  settlement  in  the 
country,  and  one  sees  the  ruins  of  former  buildings,  farms, 
and  stores.  On  every  hand  is  apparent  degeneracy  and 
decay.  The  people  revel  in  reminiscences  of  departed 
activity  and  prosperity.  Why  is  this?  Poverty  and  lack 
of  push  keep  them  on  the  coast,  in  the  swamps,  where 
malaria  is  king,  sapping  the  energy,  destroying  the  vitality, 
and  rendering  them  spiritless.  My  impression  is,  that  the 
Americo-Liberian  is  not  productive  in  the  third  generation. 
This  impression  may  not  be  correct ; but  I have  noticed 
that  the  grandchildren  of  Americo-Liberians  do  not  have 
children.  Indeed,  often  the  offspring  of  parents,  who 
themselves  were  born  and  brought  up  in  Liberia,  are  not 
healthy  and  hardy,  but  are  puny  and  sickly.  Let  me 


* An  oration  delivered  in  Monrovia,  July  26,  1882. 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC. 


33 


put  it  this  way : An  American  emigrant  family  marry- 
ing among  fellow-emigrants,  would  become  extinct  after 
the  third  generation.  My  impression  is  that  this  would 
be  true  of  any  family  in  any  part  of  the  earth,  making 
an  absolute  change  of  climate  and  physical  environ- 
ments, especially  where  the  climate  is  unhealthy  and  the 
surroundings  unfavorable.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at, 
then,  that  the  Liberian  children  bred,  born,  and  reared  in 
this  malarial  atmosphere  grow  weaker  in  both  mind  and 
body,  as  they  get  further  removed  from  the  parent  stock. 
Let  Christian  education,  work,  and  fusion  with  the  natives 
be  the  watchword ; and  if  Liberia  be  re-enforced  by 
American  Negroes  of  force  of  character,  push,  education, 
and  earnestness,  and  if  capital  start  with  them  and  is  eco- 
nomically used  and  judiciously  invested,  the  Republic  will 
enter  upon  an  era  of  solid  and  permanent  prosperity,  and 
will  become  the  pride  of  Negroes  everywhere,  and  help- 
ful to  the  civilization  of  Africa. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

PEOPLE — GENERAL  CONDITION  AND  PROSPECTS. 

UNTIL  1848  Liberia  was  a colony.  Its  machinery 
was  under  the  control  of  the  American  Colonization 
Society  of  the  United  States. 

But  certain  inconveniences  and  embarrassments  were 
experienced.  Because  it  was  neither  an  independent  na- 
tion nor  an  actual  colony  of  the  United  States,  Liberia 
suffered  in  her  contact  with  the  Powers  of  Europe ; and 
the  colonists  themselves  grew  restless  under  laws  made  for 
them  in  the  United  States,  and  administered  by  an  agent 
in  whose  appointment  they  had  no  voice. 


84 


LIBERIA  : 


The  Society  decided  to  give  the  colonists  the  right  of 
self-government.  In  July,  1847,  a convention  of  the  peo- 
ple assembled  in  Monrovia,  framed  a Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence and  a Constitution  which  were  adopted  by  the 
people  at  large  July  26,  1847. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  the  reasons  given  by  the 
colonists  in  their  Declaration  of  Independence  for  desiring 
to  set  up  for  themselves. 

It  opens  with  a reference  to  the  fact  that  man  has 
an  inalienable  right  to  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of 
happiness.  Among  the  reasons  which  are  given  for  leav- 
ing the  United  States  are  these:  (1)  “In  some  parts  of 
that  country"  we  are  debarred  by  law  from  all  the  rights 
and  privileges  of  men ; in  other  parts  public  sentiment, 
more  powerful  than  law,  frowned  us  down  (2).  “ We  were 
everywhere  shut  out  from  all  civil  office”;  (3).  “We  were 
excluded  from  all  participation  in  the  government  (4). 
“We  were  taxed  without  our  consent”;  (5).  “We  were 
compelled  to  contribute  to  the  resources  of  a country- 
which  gave  us  no  protection  ”;  (6).  “ We  were  made  a 
separate  and  distinct  class,  and  against  us  every  avenue  to 
improvement  was  effectually  closed.”  The  history  of 
colonization  is  then  succinctly  stated.  The  fact  is  an- 
nounced that  “ Questions  have  arisen  which  it  is  supposed 
can  be  adjusted  only  by  agreement  between  sovereign 
Powers.”  Liberia  is  therefore  declared  “ a free,  sovereign, 
and  independent  State,  possessed  of  all  the  rights,  powers, 
and  functions  of  government.” 

The  Constitution  is  like  that  of  the  United  States,  be- 
ginning with  a “ Declaration  of  Rights,”  and  containing  ar- 
ticles and  sections  headed  “ Legislative  Powers,”  “ Exec- 
utive Powers,”  “Judicial  Department,”  and  “ Miscellane- 
ous Provisions.” 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC. 


85 


The  Hon.  John  J.  Roberts  was  elected  first  President 
of  the  new  Republic,  and  inaugurated  on  the  first  Mon- 
day in  January,  1848,  and  Liberia  entered  the  family  of 
nations. 

This  important  event  took  place  twenty-five  years  after 
the  landing  and  settlement  of  the  first  emigrants.  The 
people  were  fresh  from  slavery,  without  knowledge  and 
without  experience.  Is  it  to  be  wondered  at  that  they 
have  made  many  mistakes?  It  is  a wonder  that  they  have 
not  made  more.  The  Pilgrim  Fathers  landed  on  Plymouth 
Rock  in  1620.  They  had  generations  of  civilization  and 
experience  in  government  behind  them.  They  were  fresh 
from  the  schools  and  the  universities  of  the  foremost  civil- 
ized country  in  the  world.  Other  emigrants  of  similar  de- 
velopment followed  them.  The  Huguenots  who  settled 
in  South  Carolina,  and  the  Cavaliers  who  established  them- 
selves in  Virginia — these  men,  who  laid  the  foundation  of 
the  original  Thirteen  States,  were  educated  ; and  they  were 
not  poor.  They  established  schools  and  colleges  out  of 
their  own  resources ; and  for  one  hundred  and  sixty-three 
years,  five  generations,  their  communities  were  colonies 
and  dependents  of  Great  Britain.  British  brains  and  cap- 
ital laid  the  foundation  of  American  growth.  European 
companies,  commanding  millions,  interested  themselves 
in  the  people  and  the  new  country,  and  took  a hand 
in  its  practical  development.  It  was  not  until  at  least 
after  five  generations  that  an  independent  Republic  sprang 
up  on  American  soil.  And  this  Republic  was  not  the  re- 
sult of  peaceful  concession,  but  it  sprang  from  the  blood 
of  an  awful  contest,  in  which  the  descendants  of  the  Pil- 
grims, Huguenots  and  Cavaliers,  and  enslaved  Ethiopians 
showed  themselves  able  to  stand  alone ! Liberia,  having 
never  been  properly  developed  by  invested  capital,  set  up 


86 


LIBERIA. 


for  herself  in  the  first  generation,  before  her  people  had 
unlearned  the  lessons  of  slavery,  or  acquired  an  intelligent 
comprehension  of  the  problems  which  underlie  all  suc- 
cessful national  life. 

The  Republic  is  exclusively  a Negro  State.  White 
persons  can  not  now  become  citizens  or  hold  property  in 
Liberia.  It  is  seriously  argued  that  the  country  will  not 
prosper  until  this  obstacle  is  removed,  and  citizenship 
and  the  rights  of  property  be  open  to  all  men.  As  the  Con- 
stitution and  the  laws  are  now,  white  men  will  not  invest 
their  capital,  as  they  can  not  protect  it  as  citizens  of  the 
country. 

There  is  a movement  now  on  foot  to  enlarge  the  priv- 
ileges of  foreigners,  so  as  to  encourage  them  to  make 
investments.  It  is  proposed  to  allow  them  : (i)  to  trade 
and  do  business  anywhere  in  the  Republic.  Now  they 
are  confined  to  the  seaports,  called  “ Ports  of  Entry.’ 
They  are  not  allowed  to  establish  factories  or  stores 
up  the  rivers,  or  in  the  interior : (2)  to  lease  land  for  a 
long  term  of  years,  perhaps  ninety-nine.  Now  the  limita- 
tion is  twenty  years.  Such  an  innovation  would  certainly 
encourage  the  investment  of  foreign  capital,  and  would 
energize  the  Republic. 

The  condition  of  most  of  the  towns  and  settlements 
shows  the  pressing  need  of  enterprise  and  capital.  Often 
have  I stood  on  the  top  of  Cape  Mesurado  and  looked 
down  upon  Monrovia,  with  its  wide  streets  crossing  one 
another  at  right  angles.  Cattle  and  sheep  would  be  grazing 
and  children  playing,  and  we  would  be  delighted  at  the 
sight;  but  it  was  distance  that  lent  enchantment  to  the  view. 

Passing  through  the  town  one  sees  the  ruins  of  build- 
ings everywhere.  The  costliest  houses  have  been  aban- 
doned to  the  lizard  and  the  snake ; and  cows  graze  where 


EX-PRESIDENT  ROBERTS’  RESIDENCE 


88 


LIBERIA : 


beautiful  gardens  and  shady  walks  once  were.  Houses 
propped  up  by  poles,  or  falling  to  decay,  rise  up  before  us 
in  vivid  memory.  If  we  turn  to  the  streets,  and  to  the 
lots  containing  the  ruins  of  abandoned  houses,  we  wonder 
how  the  people  of  Monrovia  can  live  amidst  such  surround- 
ings with  such  apparent  content.  In  his  Inaugural,  deliv- 
ered January  7,  1884,  President  Johnson  said:  “I  think 
I should  offend  our  national  honor  were  I to  omit  to  call 
your  attention  to  what  has  been  the  state  of  the  streets 
of  the  capital  during  the  past  year.  Their  bad  condition 
has  been  notorious.  Our  national  self-respect  dictates  that 
we  should  devise  some  measure  by  which  the  streets  of 
the  metropolis  may  be  kept  in  a state  that  will  comport 
with  the  dignity  of  the  nation.”  Monrovia  needs  to  be  re- 
built. Its  old  dilapidated  houses  should  be  torn  down. 
Such  a residence  as  that  of  ex-President  Roberts’,  which 
was  built  a generation  ago,  is  not  seen  anywhere  in  the 
Republic  nowadays. 

Early  one  morning  I passed  up  the  Stockton  Creek 
through  a dense  mangrove  swamp.  After  an  hour’s  row 
on  the  narrow  stream,  I found  myself  gazing  with  rap- 
ture and  delight  upon  a broad  expanse  of  water  clear  as 
crystal,  “ beautiful  as  a sea  of  glass.”  The  banks  of  the 
river  are  high,  and  are  covered  with  a dense  but  variegated 
and  brilliant  foliage.  It  is  the  St.  Paul’s.  Up,  up,  I went, 
passing  through  a country  that  is  beautiful  beyond  de- 
scription, seeing  evidences  of  agricultural  thrift,  with  here 
'and  there  dilapidated  buildings  and  abandoned  farms ; 
until  the  name  “ Millsburg  ” is  pronounced,  and  I ascended 
the  banks  from  my  canoe,  and  began  a four-mile  tramp  to 
Arthington.  Millsburg  was  once  one  of  the  most  flourish- 
ing towns  in  Liberia  ; but  now  it  is  a deserted  village. 
Some  one  calls  it  “ a graveyard.” 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC. 


89 


I passed  over  hills  and  through  dales.  It  is  a charm- 
ing country.  I imagine  myself  there  now.  It  can  not  be 
described,  at  least  I am  not  equal  to  the  task.  Coffee  and 
sugar  farms  are  on  every  side,  some  stretching  far  and  wide. 
The  majestic  cotton-tree  towers  high,  and  looks  smilingly 
down  upon  the  graceful  palm.  The  shrubbery,  flowers, 
and  grass  are  attractive  to  the  eye,  presenting  every 
variety  of  color  and  form.  The  beautiful  birds  sing  amidst 
the  leaves,  or  flit  across  my  path  as  if  to  show  their  gay- 
colored  dress.  Standing  upon  one  of  the  highest  hills, 
looking  over  the  country,  listening  to  the  roar  of  the  St. 
Paul’s  dashing  over  the  cataracts  that  impede  navigation, 
I have  wondered  where  in  all  God’s  universe  could  one  see 
a more  beautiful  sight.  As  I look  away  into  the  distance, 
I see  houses  scattered  here  and  there.  It  is  Arthington, 
bosomed  in  the  green  hills  alone  ! 

There  is  nothing  about  the  place  to  describe.  It  is  a 
settlement  rather  than  a town.  Its  people  are  healthy, 
industrious,  prosperous,  and  happy.  It  is  the  leading  set- 
tlement in  Liberia.  Fifteen  years  ago  the  place  was  a 
wilderness.  Mr.  Robert  Arthington,  the  wealthy  manu- 
facturer of  Leeds,  England,  wrote  to  the  American  Coloni- 
zation Society,  offering  to  donate  one  thousand  pounds  ster- 
ling, or  five  thousand  dollars,  toward  sustaining  a settlement 
in  the  interior  of  Liberia  which  would  be  the  beginning  of 
a line  of  settlements  to  extend  across  the  continent,  con- 
necting the  East  with  the  West  Coast,  Abyssinia  with  Li- 
beria. The  place  named  after  the  distinguished  philan- 
thropist resulted  from  this  offer.  A colony  of  emigrants 
from  North  and  South  Carolina  headed  by  June  Moore 
and  Sol  Hill,  of  Union  County,  South  Carolina,  plunged 
into  what  was  then  a primeval  forest,  slept  on  the  bare 
ground,  while  their  wives  aided  them  in  the  work  of  clear- 
ing the  land  and  building  homes. 


90 


LIBERIA. 


I have  listened  with  astonishment  to  their  thrilling 
story.  How  the  men’s  hearts  failed  them  when  they 
found  themselves  set  down  in  a barren  wilderness ! The 
women — and  they  told  me  themselves — felt  home-long- 
ings for  a moment.  But  a heart-wrench,  and  they  were 
gone  ; and  like  heroines,  they  settled  down  to  do  or  die  ' 
They  inspired  their  husbands  with  superhuman  power. 
They  bravely  shared  the  inconveniences,  hardships,  suf- 
ferings, and  perils  of  the  wilderness.  But  now  sitting 
in  their  comfortable  homes,  many  said  to  me  with  honest 
enthusiasm  and  pride,  “ I would  not  return  to  live  in 
America  if  I could.”  They  live  in  neat,  comfortable 
houses.  They  have  prosperous  churches ; there  is  an  ex- 
cellent school  supported  by  Edward  S.  Morris,  of  Philadel- 
phia ; there  are  thousands  of  acres  of  land  under  cultivation  ; 
and  they  are  pushing  further  into  the  interior.  In  Decem- 
ber, 1883,  the  young  men  of  the  settlement  held  a meeting 
and  resolved  to  form  a colony  and  push  further  back 
towards  the  interior.  Brave  young  men.  In  other  parts 
of  Liberia,  they  seem  to  be  content  to  clerk  for  a pittance, 
to  get  into  the  Government  service,  or  to  loaf  “ until  the 
old  man  dies.”  Then  they  move  into  the  paternal  home, 
and  live  on  the  accumulations  of  the  fathers,  and  let 
things  run  down.! 

Arthington  is  a model  place.  An  election  was  pending. 
A candidate,  I was  told,  sent  up  to  the  settlement  goods 
for  distribution,  hoping  in  that  way  to  secure  votes.  The 
bribe  was  returned,  and  the  vote  of  the  settlement  was 
solid  against  that  man  ! If  one  could  see  the  energy  and 
industry  so  characteristic  of  the  people  of  Arthington 
more  general  in  the  Republic,  he  would  become  an  enthu- 
siastic colonizationist.  This  thriving  settlement  shows 
that  carefully  picked  pioneers  in  interior  settlements  can 


SETTLEMENT  ON  THE  ST.  TAUL’S  RIVER. 


92 


LIBERIA  : 


direct  and  control  and  utilize  the  native  material,  and 
through  it  develop  the  country.  The  conditions  for  the 
future  prosperity  of  Liberia  are  found  in  Arthington.  Its 
people  seek  Christian  education,  follow  industrial  pursuits, 
and  fuse  with  the  natives. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

MISSION  AND  EDUCATIONAL  WORK  NEEDED. 


FRICA  has  the  strongest  claims  upon  the  benevo- 


lence and  generosity  of  the  world.  Her  early  civil- 
izhtion  has  been  of  great  value  to  mankind.  She  protected 
the  Christian  religion  when  Herod  threatened  to  destroy 
its  divine  Founder.  By  unrequited  toil,  suffering,  bonds, 
and  death,  Africans  have  put  the  whole  world  under  last- 
ing obligations. 

“ The  Dark  Continent  ” needs  the  aid  of  Christians  to 
reach  the  light  of  divine  truth.  Into  their  hands  it  places 
its  claims  growing  out  of  its  ancient  service,  and  the  inju- 
ries of  modern  slavery.  Remembering,  however,  the  great 
work  recently  done  by  Christians  in  abolishing  the  slave- 
trade  and  in  emancipating  the  slave,  Africa  kneels  at  the 
feet  of  the  true  “ Holy  Catholic  Church,”  and  appeals  for 
continued  sympathy  and  help  in  the  name  of  her  be- 
nighted children. 

The  appeal  is  not  in  vain.  The  attention  of  the  world 
is  turned  toward  the  African  Continent ; and  the  interest 
in  its  civilization  and  evangelization  grows  greater  every 
year.  The  lethargy  and  darkness  of  ages  are  certainly 
disappearing  in  the  light  and  activities  of  a Christian  civili- 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC. 


93 


zation ; and  in  spite  of  the  inroads  which  Mohammedanism 
is  making,  Africa  will  be  conquered  for  Christ,  God  having 
promised  to  give  unto  His  Son  the  heathen  for  His  inher- 
itance, and  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  for  His  pos- 
session.* 

I We  believe  that  God’s  purposes  toward  Africa  are  great 
beyond  conception.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Elder,  of  New  York 
City,  has  said  that  the  Negro  in  Africa  would  have  in  com- 
ing time  a purer  religion  than  materialistic  America.  Rev. 
Dr.  Withrow,  of  Boston,  has  said  that  the  sons  of  Ham 
would  yet  become  the  custodians  of  the  sacraments  and 
institutions  of  the  Church.  The  eminent  and  scholarly 
Prof.  Joseph  Cook  says  to  us  in  a personal  letter,  “The 
capacities  of  the  African  people,  in  religious  directions, 
may  very  possibly  some  day  be  found  to  exceed  those  of 
the  Anglo-Saxon  race.” 

While  we  would  not  be  led  by  these  expressions  into 
the  indulgence  of  vain  fancies,  yet  we  truly  believe  that  if 
materialism  and  agnosticism  should  ever  be  incarnate  in  a 
Herod — if  they  should  ever  seek  the  young  child  to  de- 
stroy Him — the  land  of  Ham  will  nourish  and  protect  Him 
even  as  when  there  came  wise  men  from  the  East  to  Jeru- 
salem, saying,  “ Where  is  he  that  is  born  King  of  the 
Jews  ? ” And  Christianity  will  again  find  refuge  in  Africa, 
there  to  abide  until  God  shall  bid  her  come  forth.  The 
reader  may  not  agree  with  Cook,  Withrow,  and  Elder. 
He  may  not  understand  the  fact  which  we  now  assert, 
that  there  is  a wide-spread  and  deep  feeling  among  Ne- 
groes that  God  may  yet,  in  a mysterious  way,  use  Africa 
to  preserve  “ the  faith  once  delivered  unto  the  saints.” 
It  is  not  our  purpose  to  exalt  the  possibilities  of  this  Con- 
tinent and  its  people.  We  simply  plead  that  a race  with 


* Psalm  ii.  8. 


94 


LIBERIA  : 


such  religious  potentialities  and  faith  should  be  brought 
in  contact  with  the  Bible,  so  that  Christ  may  be  the 
chief  corner-stone  in  the  civilization  of  the  future.  Such 
a civilization  will  be  superior  to  that  which  flourished  in 
ancient  times  in  the  Nigritian  and  Nilotic  regions,  because 
it  will  be  neither  material  nor  pagan.  It  will  be  strong  in 
its  power  to  lift  men  up.  It  will  be  stronger  in  its  power 
to  make  men  humble,  childlike,  in  honor  preferring  one 
another,  Christlike.  It  will  be  aggressive,  but  benevolent. 
It  will  be  strong  as  iron,  yet  pliable  as  steel  ; great  as  a 
giant,  yet  little  as  a child.  It  will  know  its  strength,  yet 
it  will  recognize  its  weakness.  It  will  be  the  perfection 
of  Christianity. 

v The  African  Continent  is  white  for  the  harvest.  Libe- 
ria is  the  gateway  to  this  vast  region,  which  we  call 
Central-Tropical  Africa.  The  Republic  is  known  to  Chris- 
tian Negroes  everywhere,  and  especially  in  the  United 
States.  And,  although  millions  of  Negroes  do  not  believe 
in  colonization,  yet  Liberia  has  the  hearty  interest  of 
all ; and  Negro  ecclesiastical  operations  will  enter  Africa 
through  the  Republic.  Liberia  will  be  our  base  of  oper- 
ations— the  interior  our  objective  point. 

Much  has  already  been  done  by  Negro  agencies,  oper- 
ating in  and  through  Liberia.  Thousands  of  the  natives 
have  been  given  the  English  language ; thousands  have 
acquired  a taste  for  our  civilization  ; many  have  embraced 
it  and  have  become  Christians  ; and  a few  are  now  preach- 
ing the  Gospel  of  Christ  to  interior  tribes.  Liberia  has 
not  existed  in  vain.  Christian  philanthropy  has  done 
much  in  sustaining  missions  and  pushing  educational  en- 
terprises. 

Most  of  the  evangelical  denominations  are  doing  mis- 
sionary work  in  Liberia.  The  Presbyterians  were  the 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC. 


95 


pioneers.  Such  men  as  Archibald  Alexander,  the  schol- 
arly and  pious  first  dean  of  Princeton  Seminary,  inspired 
his  Church  to  enter  this  field.  His  great  name  and  burn- 
ing- zeal  for  the  evangelization  of  Africa  have  been  com- 
memorated  in  the  Alexander  High-School  of  Liberia, 
which  has  done  much  good  in  the  country.  There  is  a 
Presbytery  of  West  Africa. 

The  Baptists,  with  great  zeal  and  wisdom,  inaugurated 
their  missionary  work  very  early.  They  lead  all  the  other 
denominations  in  Liberia  in  vigor  and  self-reliance.  Re- 
ceiving less  foreign  aid  than  any  other  denomination,  yet 
they  have  the  most  flourishing  churches. 

The  Methodist  denominations  are  largely  represented ; 
and  the  Missionary  Societies  of  the  United  States  have 
spent  thousands  of  dollars  in  educational  and  evangelical 
work ; but  it  has  not  proven  to  be  an  encouraging  field. 

The  Episcopalians  have  prosecuted  work  in  Liberia  with 
amazing  persistency  and  great  results.  Their  Educational 
Institute  at  Cape  Palmas  and  their  school  at  Cape  Mount, 
have  reached  and  benefited  hundreds  of  natives.  Re- 
cently a scholarly  and  pious  colored  clergyman,  Rev.  Sam- 
uel D.  Ferguson,  was  elected  Bishop  of  Cape  Palmas  and 
Parts  Adjacent,  thus  practically  establishing  Liberia  as  a 
diocese.  This  will  give  new  life  and  energy  to  the  cause 
of  Episcopal  missions. 

For  twenty  years  and  more  a board  of  philanthropists 
in  Boston,  and  one  in  New  York,  have  prosecuted  mission- 
ary educational  work  in  connection  with  Liberia  College ; 
but  the  condition  of  the  country  and  the  people  have  not 
been  favorable  to  great  success.  It  is  proposed  to  inau- 
gurate an  Industrial  Department  in  connection  with  the 
College.  Such  a movement  would  be  a blessing  to  the 
people  of  Liberia. 


9<5 


LIBERIA  : 


No  body  of  Christians  have  been  more  fortunate  than 
the  Lutherans.  They  have  sustained  for  years  a labor 
manual  school  and  mission  near  Arthington,  and  have 
reached  hundreds  of  natives,  converting  and  enlightening 
them,  and  teaching  them  the  art  of  systematic  labor  with 
the  hands.  The  Rev.  D.  A.  Day  has  been  the  most  suc- 
cessful, practical  worker  that  Liberia  has  received  from 
any  source.  He  has  been  in  charge  of  this  work,  called 
the  Muhlenberg  Mission,  for  twelve  years,  and  he  seeks  to 
make  his  beneficiaries  self-reliant  and  his  work  self-sup- 
porting. He  enlightens  and  Christianizes  the  natives, 
then  teaches  them  how  to  work,  and  settles  them  on  a 
piece  of  land,  and  thus  starts  them  in  the  way  of  practical 
living. 

At  Arthington  there  is  a private  missionary  school, 
supported  by  Edward  S.  Morris,  of  Philadelphia,  and 
named  in  honor  of  his  mother.  From  what  I saw  when 
there  it  is  doing  much  good,  reaching  both  natives  and 
Liberians. 

There  are  several  other  mission  schools ; but  the 
educational  facilities  are  few  and  poor.  Of  the  Amer- 
ico-African  children  not  ten  per  cent,  are  in  school ; and 
of  the  entire  native  and  Liberian  population  not  one  per 
cent,  is  receiving  any  instruction.  The  Government  is  too 
poor  to  educate  the  children.  Help  must  come  from 
some  quarter.  What  a needy  and  inviting  field. 

There  are  in  Liberia  more  than  half  a million  of  people 
who  believe  in  a “ Good  Spirit,”  but  who  blindly  worship 
Him,  having  their  altars  erected  unto  “the  unknown  God.” 
They  read  the  open  book  of  nature,  the  towering  hills,  and 
the  sloping  valleys,  studded  with  majestic  trees  and  beau- 
tified with  gemlike  flowers.  They  read  “ the  starry  garden 
of  the  firmament — those  flowers  of  the  skies  budding  with 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC. 


97 


the  hopes  of  immortality.”  They  read  the  gentle  sunshine 
and  the  furious  storm,  the  flashing  lightning  and  the  rum- 
bling thunder;  and  they  see,  written  as  with  a pen  of  fire, 
“ There  is  a God."  And  then  there  is  another  writing,  to 
these  natives  as  mysterious  and  as  inexplicable  as  was  that 
upon  which  Belshazzar  gazed — “ Christ  Jesus  came  into  the 
world  to  save  sinners."  These  thousands  of  souls  dwelling 


A MISSION  SCHOOL. 

in  Liberia  are  puzzled  as  they  read.  Ask  them,  “ Under- 
standest  thou  what  thou  readest?”  and  the  earnest  reply 
is  : “ How  can  /,  except  some  man  should  guide  me  ?”*  A 
burning  appeal  comes  from  Africa  to  the  whole  Church, 
and  particularly  to  that  part  of  it  most  able  to  help  be- 
cause of  the  possession  of  consecrated  wealth  and  a mature 
civilization.  In  one  of  his  preludes,  in  Tremont  Temple, 
Boston,  Mass.,  Joseph  Cook  sought  to  arouse  the  civiliza- 

* Acts  viii.  30-31. 

5 


98 


LIBERIA  : 


tion  of  the  Western  world  to  a sense  of  its  responsibility- 
in  this  matter.  He  said  : “The  light  of  the  Occident  can 
not  be  hidden  from  the  Orient.  A spiritual  unity  is  com- 
ing to  the  whole  human  family ; and  I would  have  the 
head  feel  its  responsibility ; and  the  Occident  is  the  head 
of  the  earth  and  the  hands  of  it.  Nearest  to  God,  let  us 
transmit  the  spark  of  scientific  supernaturalism  into  the 
civilization  of  the  whole  planet,  and  so  make  its  reeling 
form  stand  upon  its  feet  and  worship  God.” 

The  African  cry  for  help  has  reached  the  hearts  of  thou- 
sands of  Negroes  in  America,  and  especially  in  the  United 
States,  and  some  have  even  gone,  and  they  are  still  going 
back  to  the  “ Fatherland,”  to  labor  as  teachers  and  as  mis- 
sionaries. And  they  should  be  greatly  encouraged  and 
heartily  sustained  by  those  who  think  that  Negroes,  who 
are  fully  equipped  for  the  work,  are  to  be  the  redeemers 
of  Central-Tropical  Africa.  God  seems  to  have  written 
this  truth  in  history  and  experience,  that  the  men  and  the 
forces  which  act  directly  on  the  elevation  of  a people  are 
of  the  people  themselves — bone  of  their  bone,  flesh  of 
their  flesh,  blood  of  their  blood.  Byron’s  line, 

“ Who  would  be  free,  themselves  must  strike  the  blow,” 

applies  to  intellectual,  moral,  and  spiritual  as  well  as  to 
physical  emancipation.  The  redemption  of  Africa  must 
come  largely  through  the  Negro  himself.  We  say  largely, 
because  we  do  not  believe  that  the  work  has  been  exclu- 
sively committed  to  the  Ethiopian.  My  impression  is  that 
much  of  the  success  of  Mohammedanism  lies  in  the  fact 
that  its  missionaries  are  Negroes.  The  Africans  hear  a 
simple  Gospel  from  the  lips  of  men  of  their  own  race.  It 
is  our  opinion  that  white  men  will  never  evangelize  the 
Ethiopian.  The  natives  do  not  separate  the  white  race 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC. 


99 


into  Christians  and  sinners.  They  regard  them  all  as  rep- 
resentatives of  the  Christian  religion.  The  white  mission- 
ary preaches  Christ  and  holy  living ; the  white  trader 
cheats,  swears,  ill-treats  six  days  in  the  week,  and  on  the 
seventh  occupies  the  chief  seat  in  the  synagogue.  At 
luncheon  in  England  in  1883,  an  eminent  Englishman, 
who  had  held  a very  high  office  in  India,  and  had  served 
Her  Majesty  in  South  Africa,  said  : “We  English  people 
are  counteracting,  are  paralyzing  our  missionary  efforts 
by  sending  rum  and  opium  to  pagan  nations”;  and  then, 
with  an  earnestness  that  I shall  never  forget,  he  deprecated 
the  fact,  and  expressed  the  hope  that  God  would  in  some 
way  put  an  end  to  such  an  anomalous  and  sinful  condition 
of  things. 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  the  Catholic  cathedrals 
and  monasteries  have  fallen  into  decay  in  the  Congo 
Valley.  The  Church  was  stabbed  and  killed  by  her 
Spanish  slave-holding  children.  No  wonder  that  the  tipsy 
African  replied  to  the  rebuke  of  the  white  missionary 
with  the  question,  “ Be  he  no  your  brudder  who  bring  us 
rum  ? ” The  evangelization  of  Ethiopia  will  be  wrought 
out  by  converted  Ethiopians.  I do  not  exclude  white 
men,  nor  European  and  American  influences  altogether ; 
but  they  will  act  indirectly  in  the  great  work,  perhaps 
we  might  say  directly,  so  far  as  it  will  inspire,  aid,  and 
guide  Ethiopic  energy.  Bishop  Crowther  and  his  Negro 
followers  have  done  a wonderful  and  an  effective  work  on 
the  Niger.  Out  of  America  consecrated  and  properly 
trained  men  and  women  will  go  from  year  to  year  to  the 
“ Fatherland  ” to  work  for  the  elevation  of  a race  and  the 
redemption  of  a Continent. 

Upon  all  who  engage  in  this  great  cause,  directly  or 
indirectly,  Livingstone’s  prayer  will  be  answered.  He 


IOO 


LIBERIA  : 


died  in  Africa  on  bended  knees.  He  lies  asleep  in  West- 
minster Abbey.  When  in  England  I stood  with  reverence 
at  his  grave,  and  read  with  emotion  this  his  last  prayer, 
cut  on  his  tomb  : “ May  heaven's  rich  blessing  rest  on 
every  one — American,  English,  Turk — who  helps  to  heal 
this  open  sore  of  the  world.”  That  is,  “who  helps  to 
suppress  the  slave-trade  and  put  down  domestic  slavery ; 
uproot  idolatry  and  establish  pure  homes,  commerce,  and 
education,  and  found  permanent  Christian  institutions  in 
Africa.”  The  work  of  healing  goes  rapidly  on.  Soon 
Ethiopia  shall  rise  from  her  reclining  position,  and  take  up 
her  bed  and  walk.  Among  the  wise  men  from  the  East, 
she  presented  to  the  Infant  Redeemer  “ gifts ; gold,  and 
frankincense,  and  myrrh.”*  Through  Simon  of  Cyrene, 
she  bore  the  cross  for  Christ  in  His  hour  of  deep  humil- 
iation and  human  weakness.!  Through  the  eunuch  con- 
verted under  Philip’s  ministry,  she  proclaimed  her  belief 
that  “Jesus  Christ  is  the  Son  of  God”;!  and  soon,  under 
the  inspiration  and  in  the  strength  of  this  faith,  not  one, 
but  millions  of  “ Ethiopia’s  blameless  race  ” will  go  on  their 
way  rejoicing. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

AMERICAN  INTEREST  IN  THE  AFRICAN  REPUBLIC. 

THE  Americo-African  Republic  has  a claim  upon  the 
Government  of  the  United  States,  growing  out  of 
the  fact  that  in  its  incipiency  it  was  a quasi  colony  of  this 
country.  The  purchase  of  land  and  the  planting  of  the 

* Matt.  ii.  ii.  I have  seen  paintings  in  Holland  and  Belgium  of  the  visit  of  the 
Magi ; and  in  every  one  an  Ethiopian  is  prominent, 
t Matt,  xxvii.  32. 


X Acts  viii.  37. 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPU3LIC. 


IOI 


first  settlement  on  the  West  Coast  of  Africa  was  in  ac- 
cordance with  an  Act  of  Congress,  passed  March  3,  1819. 
It  seems  to  me  that  this  nation  with  its  seven  millions  of 
Africo-Americans  will  not  leave  Liberia  alone  in  her  efforts 
to  get  firmly  established  as  a Christian  Republic  on  the 
West  Coast  of  Africa. 

The  colored  people  of  the  United  States  have  good  and 
sufficient  cause  for  their  interest  in  what  millions  of  them 
call  their  “ Fatherland.”  The  elevation  of  the  African  Con- 
tinent and  the  advancement  of  the  colored  American  will 
have  a reflex  influence  one  upon  the  other.  I believe  that 
there  will  always  exist  on  this  continent  a homogeneous 
nation  composed  of  a heterogeneous  people.  The  Africo- 
American,  the  Anglo-American,  the  Celt,  the  Teuton, 
and  the  Semitic  races  will  ever  dwell  here  in  national 
harmony,  but  with  racial  differences.  I grant  that  Amer- 
ican environments  will  operate  to  transform  the  races. 
True,  the  American  Negro  will  be  a different  man  from 
the  African  Negro — different  in  complexion,  different  in 
physiognomy.  There  are  great  differences  among  Ne- 
groes even  in  Africa.  The  Anglo-American  is  not  in  all 
respects  like  the  Anglo-Saxon ; nor  do  people  in  the 
South  of  Europe  exactly  resemble  those  in  the  North. 
But  modification  is  not  the  differentia  of  race.  The 
changes  will  not  be  those  that  grow  out  of  a sweeping  amal- 
gamation of  races  of  men.  If  we  examine  carefully  the 
population  of  the  United  States  and  Canada,  we  find  that 
the  different  species  and  races  of  men  are  moving  largely 
in  parallel  lines  now  as  they  did  two  hundred  years  ago. 
We  find  that  Anglo-American,  Africo-American,  Scotch, 
Irish,  German,  and  French  make  up  the  population  in  in- 
creasingly relative  proportions.  In  Great  Britain,  the 
Irish  Celt  is  as  distinct  from  the  Saxon,  as  he  was  seven 


102 


LIBERIA  : 


hundred  years  ago.  The  Saxons  and  the  Slavs  remain 
distinct  in  Eastern  Prussia.  The  Teutonic  and  the  Slavic 
elements  in  the  Austro-Hungarian  monarchy,  are  no  near- 
er mixing  than  they  were  generations  ago.  If  there  is  no 
amalgamation  between  species  of  a similar  ethnical  fibre, 
my  belief  is  that  there  will  be  none  among  races  differing 
as  do  the  Ethiopian,  the  Mongolian,  and  the  Caucasian. 

In  theorizing  as  to  the  absorption  of  the  American  Ne- 
groes, we  should  remember  the  wonderful  absorbing  vital- 
ity of  the  African  race.  The  favorite  cry  of  colored  orators 
is  this,  “ We  are  not  dying  out.”  They  ought  also  to  say, 
“ We  are  not  bleaching  out.”.  More  white  blood  has  got- 
ten into  our  veins  in  the  past  than  will  enter  it  in  the  fu- 
ture. The  dominant  feeling  among  N egroes  is  against  amal- 
gamation. Hence  the  systematic  slighting  of  a man  or  a 
woman,  who  in  the  exercise  of  an  inalienable  right,  steps 
over  the  race  line  to  marry.  The  weight  of  feeling  among 
leading  white  men  is  against  a physical  amalgamation  of 
the  races.  They  stand  for  the  preservation  of  an  individual’s 
right  of  choice  in  marriage.  They  stand  for  an  intel- 
lectual, religious,  and  political  assimilation  — all  races 
dwelling  together  in  an  equal  brotherhood  under  one 
American  flag  ; but  they  go  no  further ; and  this  is  sig- 
nificant.* 

But  waiving  all  opinions  as  to  the  ultimate  results  of 
this  American  problem,  the  fact  will  not  be  disputed,  that 
for  generations  yet  unborn  the  Africo-American  will  be  a 
distinct  species  of  this  rapidly  increasing  population.  Our 
future  strength  and  standing  among  the  other  American 
races  will  be  materially  aided  by  the  redemption  of  our 
Fatherland.  We  can  not  ignore  the  claims  of  Africa  upon 


* See  Cable’s  “ Silent  South  M in  the  Century  for  September,  1S85. 


THE  AMERIC0-AFR1CAN  REPUBLIC. 


103 


us,  and  lay  broad  and  deep  the  foundations  of  future  re- 
spect and  power. 

What  Negro  can  read  the  history  of  South  Africa  with- 
out feelings  of  indignation  against  the  white  men  who 
have  enacted  such  cruelties  there  ? Who  of  us  can  hear 
of  the  ability  and  bravery  of  Zulu  and  Ashantee  states- 
men and  warriors  without  a thrill  ? Who  can  visit  Sierra 
I.eone,  or  Liberia,  and  not  see  with  the  eye  of  faith  that 
the  coming  years  will  put  National  wisdom  and  wealth 
behind  the  Christian  Negro,  even  as  they  are  behind  the 
Caucasian  and  the  Mongolian  ? When  a great  Christian 
Negro  Nationality  shall  speak  to  the  world,  as  I believe 
under  God  it  shall,  the  Negro  everywhere  will  no  longer 
be  treated  as  a man  to  be  despised,  or  to  receive  pity, 
sympathy,  or  toleration ; but  he  will  be  regarded  as  an 
object  of  interest  and  respect,  because  he  will  no  longer 
represent  slavery  and  degradation.  He  will  be  identified 
with  a people  strong  in  its  civilization,  and  powerful  in  its 
nationality.  Is  this  time  never  to  come?  Is  the  answer, 
No;  it  will  never  come?  Then  let  the  Christian  Negro 
speedily  bleach  out,  for  slavery  has  robbed  us  of  our  race 
instincts,  our  self-reliance,  our  pride  ! 

I do  not  advise  emigration  to  Liberia  ; and  yet,  I 
would  rejoice  to  see  a voluntary  movement  to  the  Repub- 
lic of  independent,  self-reliant,  and  self-supporting  people 
with  capital  behind  them.  We  expect  to  see  hundreds 
go  out  to  teach,  to  preach,  to  pursue  the  professions,  and 
to  engage  in  commercial  pursuits.  These  will  have  excep- 
tional opportunities  that  their  education  and  money  will 
command.  We  have  truthfully  said  that  Liberia  needs 
men  and  capital.  We  have  drawn  a true  picture  of  the 
obstacles  to  be  encountered  in  settling  in  Liberia  from  cli- 
mate and  other  difficulties  to  be  met  in  any  new  country 


104 


LIBERIA  : 


to  which  capital  is  not  attracted.  I have  written  my  Im- 
pressions truthfully,  without  fear  or  favor,  because  I have 
felt  it  to  be  my  duty  to  give  a correct  account  to  those 
who  want  to  hear  my  opinions  in  these  matters  ; and  be- 
cause I would  forewarn  those  who  may  go  to  the  West 
Coast  so  that  on  their  arrival  they  may  not  be  disap- 
pointed, but  may  settle  down  to  the  trying  work  before 
them  with  an  earnestness  and  a steadfastness  that  con- 
quer success. 

Men  who  expatriate  themselves  to  gain  “a  better  coun- 
try” deserve  great  credit  for  enterprise  and  courage; 
hence  I believe  it  to  be  the  duty  of  every  Negro  to  give 
at  least  sympathy  to  those  who  leave  the  land  of  their 
nativity  to  spend  and  be  spent  in  efforts  to  build  up  a 
Christian  Negro  Nationality  in  the  “ Fatherland.”  They 
are  heroes  in  a great  battle.  They  are  pioneers  in  a great 
work.  “ The  blood  of  the  martyrs  was  the  seed  of  the 
Church.”  The  blood  and  sweat  and  tears  of  our  African 
emigrationists  may  be  the  seed  of  a glorious  heritage  for 
generations  yet  unborn. 

I am  not  a colonizationist,  because  it  is  not  my  convic- 
tion that  the  Negro  has  no  chance  to  attain  here  in  the 
United  States  the  full  measure  of  American  manhood  and 
citizenship.  But  be  this  as  it  may ; the  colored  people 
can  not  afford  either  to  ignore  Africa  or  to  be  indifferent 
to  her  claims  for  sympathy  and  service.  We  are  already 
profiting  by  the  progress  of  African  civilization  ; and 
thousands  of  us  are  rejoicing  that  Africa  has  come  so  won- 
derfully to  the  front  within  the  last  twenty-five  years  ; that 
its  map  is  no  longer  of  black  ink ; but  that  almost  over  its 
entire  surface  are  seen  great  cities,  commercial  centres, 
partially  civilized  tribes,  and  powerful  governments ; that 
trade  is  bringing  the  Negro  of  Central-Tropical  Africa  face 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC. 


105 


to  face  with  the  best  civilized  methods  and  the  most  mod- 
ern improvements,  and  that  he  is  Africanizing  and  using 
them  with  wonderful  ease  and  rapidity.  No  one  can  tell 
the  changes  that  will  take  place  in  the  next  quarter  of  a 
century.  Steam  has  brought  Africa  within  a few  days  of 
Europe.  Within  ten  years,  Liberia,  now  more  than  a 
month  off  from  New  York  City,  will  be  brought  within 
ten  days  of  the  great  American  metropolis  ! Steamships 
will  run  between  New  York  and  Monrovia.  Capital  will 
go  to  cultivate  the  soil,  bring  to  light  the  mineral  re- 
sources of  the  country,  and  develop  its  general  industries ; 
and  thousands  of  civilized  American  Negroes  of  enterprise 
will  follow  it  as  emigration  from  Europe  follows  capital 
to  the  United  States. 

Within  the  next  quarter  of  a century  Negroes  should 
have  their  own  vessels  on  the  ocean  running  from  New 
Orleans,  Savannah,  Charleston,  Baltimore,  and  New  York 
to  Monrovia,  Sierra  Leone,  Grand  Bassa,  Sino,  Cape  Pal- 
mas, the  Gold  Coast,  and  the  Congo.  Negro  merchants 
and  shippers  should  do  a large  business  in  the  leading  At- 
lantic seaports.  Soon  Negro  capital  should  send  at  least 
a brig  to  carry  our  civilization  in  the  form  of  workers  for 
Africa,  and  to  carry  tobacco,  cloth,  hardware,  and  provis- 
ions to  Liberia,  and  to  bring  thence  the  riches  of  that 
favored  land.  God  speed  the  day.  It  will  give  a new 
impetus  to  industry  in  Liberia  and  to  enterprise  here. 
Do  you  think  me  a dreamer  ? Remember  that  “ the 
evolutions  of  fact  are  sometimes  stranger  than  the  ro- 
mances of  fiction.”  Such  a day  will  come.  Aye,  it  must 
come.  Negroes,  even  now,  while  they  cling  to  the  Bible 
and  put  the  fear  of  God  as  first  and  best,  yet  are  discon- 
tinuing the'song, 


io6 


LIBERIA  : 


" Man  wants  but  little  here  below; 

Nor  wants  that  little  long.” 

By  the  acquisition  of  consecrated  wisdom  and  wealth, 
and  by  its  proper  use,  they  desire  to  bring  to  earth  the 
kingdom  of  heaven ; and  this  spirit  gives  us  faith,  push, 
and  enterprise. 

While  regretting  her  weakness,  let  us  not  forget  that 
the  Republic  of  Liberia  is  a fact.  Among  the  nations 
of  the  earth  she  is  recognized  and  received.  Her  name  is 
found  everywhere  in  connection  with  the  status  or  charac- 
teristics of  other  States.  I take  up  a commercial  work  and 
look  at  the  list  of  nations  that  have  vessels  on  the  ocean  ; 
Liberia  is  there.  I examine  the  list  showing  the  monetary 
units  and  standard  coins  of  the  different  countries  ; Liberia 
is  there.  Her  past  career  has  not  been  altogether  fruit- 
less. Although  a weak  ally,  yet  she  aided  England  in 
suppressing  the  slave-trade ; and  she  would,  if  she  had 
sufficient  strength  or  influence,  totally  destroy  domestic 
slavery  among  the  natives.  She  has  given  to  hundreds  of 
natives  a knowledge  of  the  English  language ; and  although 
it  is  spoken  poorly,  yet  even  far  back  into  her  interior  it 
is  possible  to  find  some  one  among  the  aborigines  who 
can  speak  our  English  tongue.  She  has  also  imparted  to 
the  natives  what  she  could  of  her  habits  of  industry ; and 
she  has  given  of  her  Christianity  to  many  of  them,  some 
of  whom  are  teaching  and  preaching  unto  their  pagan 
brethren. 

While  I am  no  enthusiast  over  the  Americo-African 
Republic,  yet  I could  not  truthfully  say  that  it  has  existed 
to  no  purpose.  I think  that  the  planting  of  Liberia  has 
helped  to  some  extent  the  work  of  African  civilization. 

If  in  the  future  the  United  States  Government  should 


THE  AMERICO-AFRICAN  REPUBLIC.  I OJ 

take  a livelier  and  deeper  interest  in  Liberia  ; if  foreign  cap- 
ital should  enter  the  country ; if  a national  system  of 
industrial  education  should  be  vigorously  supported  ; if, 
as  a result  of  these,  the  aborigines  should  be  civilized  and 
educated  ; and  if  an  intelligent  and  hardy  population  from 
America  should  fuse  with  them  and  plant  and  sustain  set- 
tlements extending  into  the  interior — then  out  of  this 
Americo-African  Republic,  which  President  Monroe  plant- 
ed, civilizing  and  Christianizing  influences  shall  sweep 
into  the  Soudan,  throughout  the  Niger  and  into  the 
Congo ; and  under  a mighty  African  ruler,  there  will  arise 
a stable  and  powerful  Government  of  Africans,  for  Afri- 
cans, and  by  Africans,  which  shall  be  an  inestimable  bless- 
ing to  all  mankind. 


THE  END. 


Liberia.  College 


M 

As  soon  as  the  Funds  of  the  New  York  and  Boston  Boards  having  charge 
of  Liberian  Education  will  warrant,  it  is  proposed  to  inaugurate  the 

Agricultural  and  Industrial  Department. 

The  College  of  Liberia  was  opened  in  1865.  Its  work  has  been  altogether 
literary.  The  need  of  Agricultural  and  Industrial  Training  is  felt  through- 
out the  Republic.  The  Government  has  donated  one  thousand  acres  of  land. 
A farm  to  support  the  boarding  hall  and  industrial  shops  will  be  conducted 
so  as  to  give  the  boys  a knowledge  of  practical  agriculture  and  the  trades. 
The  girls  will  be  trained  in  the  kitchen,  dairy,  laundry,  poultry-yard,  and 
sewing-room.  Thus,  all  will  be  taught  habits  of  industry ; and  in  time 
the  work  will  become  self-supporting. 

Up  the  St.  Paul’s  River,  the  Industrial  Department  will  be  among  the  native 
Africans,  and  also  easily  accessible  to  the  children  of  the  American  emigrants. 

To  effect  this  removal,  and  to  erect  buildings,  plant  and  stock  the  board- 
ing-house farm,  put  the  coffee  and  sugar  plantation  under  cultivation,  secure 
an  outfit  for  the  industrial  shops  and  rooms,  and  place  the  work  on  a self- 
supporting  basis,  contributions  are  earnestly  solicited  from  the  generous 
friends  of  Africa.  Referring  to  this  plan, 

Prof.  Joseph  Cook,  of  Boston,  says:  “ Whoever  aids  Liberia  College  will 
be  promoting  the  interests  of  millions  of  the  African  people.” 

President  McCosh,  of  Princeton  College,  says:  “It  will  be  a powerful 
means  of  elevating  the  people.  It  will  be  a centre  of  light  in  a region  of 
the  Dark  Continent.” 

Donations  may  be  sent  to 

CHARLES  E.  STEVENS,  Treasurer, 

Boston  and  Albany  R.R.,  Boston,  Mass. 
Or,  CHARLES  T.  GEYER,  Treasurer, 

1 15  Wall  Street,  N.  Y.  City. 

Hon.  JOS.  S.  ROPES,  President.  ) 

J.  C.  BRAMAN,  Esq.,  Secretary,  f Boston  Board. 

66  State  Street. 

Rev.  S.  D.  ALEXANDER,  D.D.,  President. 

Rev.  G.  W.  SAMSON,  D.D.,  Secretary, 

40  Bible  House,  N.  Y.  City. 

JUST  OUT. 

Tlie  Negro  in  Politics. 

By  T.  THOMAS  FORTUNE, 

Editor  of  the  New  York  Freeman , Author  of  “ Black  and  White." 

PRICE,  25  CENTS. 


| N.  Y.  Board. 


Address  all  orders  to 


OGILVIE  & ROWNTREE,  Publishers, 
No.  4 Cedar  Street,  New  York. 


